Newsletter - Issue 1 - October 2013 - The Langley Academy

NEWSLETTERISSUE 1 - OCTOBER 2013“TLA has embracedthe ethos of healthyeating” says CelebrityChef Michael MooreSee Page 32 for moreInternationalism Focus Week – Ballons trouvés en France! – See Page 15Do you want to travel to Exhibition Road in London forfree? – To find out how, see page 51

Message from the PrincipalI am delighted with the start to the year which was made that much better by our best ever results inAugust. We achieved 57% 5A*-C including English and Maths, an improvement on 7% on the previousyear and our AS and A2 results also improved at each indicator putting us in the top 11-25% of similarschools in the country. Students, their parents and carers and the Academy staff should be veryproud of these achievements. In particular it is so great because of the many doors that have beenopened for the futures of our young people, many going on to University, some going on to FurtherEducation Colleges or apprenticeships; some moving directly into employment and some taking a gapyear. We have been impressed with the quality of their future destinations and by their commitmentto be the best they can be.The results have led the way for many other engaging activities at the Academy including ourInternationalism Week; Prince Philip presenting us with our Duke of Edinburgh award and asignificant enrichment programme throughout the week.The first 7 weeks of the year are said to be amongst the hardest for staff as various processes beginincluding report writing; finalising improvement; quality assurance plans and completingPerformance Management and so I would like to take this opportunity in thanking staff for going theextra mile in fulfilling their ambitions in making a difference to the lives of the students in their care.It has also been a very difficult period of time because of the speed and nature of changes that theGovernment are making, in particular with regard to examinations and ‘early entry’. We have beenwriting to those parents involved but please contact the Academy if you are unsure about any of theexaminations processes that your child might be involved in.Finally, I wish you a great half-term and I wish all of those students taking exams in the first weekback the very best of luck and I hope that they take advantage of the superb revision timetable thatboth the English and Maths faculties have arranged.Rhodri Bryant, Principal2

Dates for your DiaryOCTOBERFriday 25 End of 1 st Half Term - Autumn 13:20NOVEMBERMonday 4 Start of 2 nd Half Term - Autumn 08:20Thursday 14 Year 8 Parent/Carer Evening 16:30 – 19:00Wednesday 20World Challenge AdventureWorkshop(See Page 6 for details)15:00 – 18:30DECEMBERThursday 5 Year 10 Parent/Carer Evening 16:30 – 19:00Wednesday 11 Senior Citizens Christmas Party 16:30 – 19:30Parent Forum 18:00 – 19:00Thursday 12 Certificate Evening 17:00 – 19:00Wednesday 18 Year 9 Academic Afternoon 14:00 – 16:00Friday 20 Dec End of Term 1JANUARYMonday 6INSET – No students at theAcademyTuesday 7 All students return for Term 2Spring08:204

Attendance***IMPORTANT NEWS***Our Academy attendance target for the year is 95.5%. Students have made a good start to the yearand we have 428 students who have been here every day on time since September. Well done tothem all.Number ofstudents with100% attendanceHOUSE and punctualityARBIB 61DARWIN 73GAIA 60GLOBE 82GRACE 76HENLEY 76TOTAL 428Free Family Coach to LondonWhat are you doing on Saturday 23 November? “Allof the fun and none of the hassle” You will alight atExhibition Road in London, home of some amazing freemuseums. How you spend your day is up to you. This isfor families to enjoy London together; students mustbe in a group with an adult.To book and for more information please emailmuseum@langleyacademy.org or you can speakto the Museum Team: Ms Blay or Ms Barker on01753 214 471.5

World Challenge Adventure WorkshopA World Challenge Adventure Workshop has been booked for Wednesday 20 November between15.00 and 18.30, and is designed to prepare the students for their Adventure to Swaziland.The Adventure Workshop will encourage team bonding and will develop the essential practical skillsfor expedition life such as fundraising, team equipment, health and hygiene, security and destinationrelated topics. With the help of a World Challenge Programme Facilitator, the meeting will preparethe students for the activities they will participate in and will provide advice about various topicsrelated to expedition life in country.We would like to invite all parent/carers to the last hour of the meeting so that we can give you anupdate on the Adventure so far. Please arrive at school at 17.30.ParentPay ShopScience Revision Guides and Scientific Calculators arenow available to purchase through our ParentPay shop.Click on our Shop button via the homepage of ourwebsite or use the following link:http://www.parentpayshop.co.uk/schools/8716905/uniform_shop.htmlCalculators can be collected from Ms Bennett in N1.08 and the Science Revision Guides can becollected from the Prep Room (N1.14) during break time on Monday and Tuesday.Uniform – Once you have purchased your uniform online, it should be collected by your child fromthe cloakroom.Parents Please Note: Your PayPoint card can only be used to load money onto your child’s dinnermoney account. Please do not load money onto it to purchase uniform or to pay for trips.6

ARBIB HOUSEIt has been an exciting start to the new academic year as we say a warm welcome to our new Year 7students. Many of them have already represented the House in various activities including rowing,cross country, Parent/Carer Evenings and Academy Councils. Arbib House students were fullyimmersed in their Internationalism projects this term as each House Tutor Group looked into adifferent part of North America and the music that hailed from that area. Letting their creative juicesflow, Arbib students developed some inspiring posters, costumes, instruments and displays. Arbib 1looked at Native American music, Arbib 2 had surf rock music, Arbib 3 researched the origins of bluesmusic, Arbib 4 had R&B, Arbib 5 looked into rap and finally Arbib 6 worked on Jazz music. All 6 TutorGroups combined to create an amazing Gazebo that stood proudly in the Atrium.Mr Sullivan, Ms Hegarty, Ms Brock and Mr CasemanA special mention must go to Chloe Partington, Sarah Niazi, Nicola Simon, Tadi Ndlovu, UmarYousaf, Ibrahim Noor, Ibrahim Rizwan, Cara Burton, Dylhan Hothi, Gurrajvir Singh, Joe Critcher andTarun Basra who were all nominated to represent their Tutor Groups in the Arbib House Council.I would personally like to thank Year 7 and 9 parents/carers of Arbib students for their attendance tothe recent parent/carer tea and AIG evening. We were once again very well supported and this willhave a huge impact on the attainment and success of our students.Arbib students continue to aim for the top in attendance, punctuality and attainment and I am surewe can keep up the outstanding efforts moving on into next term! It is no coincidence that thestudents with the highest attendance are also the highest achievers!Well done Arbib and keep up the good work.Ms Whelan7

DARWIN HOUSEThe election by each Darwin House Tutor Group of two representatives, one at Key Stage 3 and theother at Key Stage 4, to represent them at House Council level has taken place. After a rigorouselection process the following students have been awarded the privilege and responsibility of dealingwith House and Academy matters, communicating both to the students in their House Tutor Groupsas well as to the House Council itself:Darwin 1 KS3 - Falah Jarral KS4 - Christina ButlerDarwin 2 KS3 - Joshua Brook KS4 - Ellie TaylorDarwin 3 KS3 - Harry Bennett KS4 - Matidaishe MupfachaDarwin 4 KS3 - Endi Danjolli KS4 - Lei Burton AherneDarwin 5 KS3 - Sabah Younis KS4 - Ramandeep LalliDarwin 6 KS3 - Zuzanna Gorska KS4 - Ibrahim RajaFurthermore, following the first meeting of the House Council I am delighted to announce thatJoshua Brook and Ellie Taylor have been elected to the further responsibility of joining the fullLangley Academy Council.This impressive group of students join the House captains and Vice captains in spearheading theformal student leadership of Darwin House for this academic year.8

Year 7 Student transition folders have been marked and handed back to the students. There weresome amazing student accounts, but especially worthy of mention are those recorded by BradleyFarren (50/50). Kyle Dobbyn (47/50), Tyler Austin (45/50), Ben Martin (45/50), James Whelan(45/50) and Charlotte Bedford (45/50) (pictured above). Very well done indeed!Mr Bott9

GAIA HOUSEThe new academic year has again begun extremely well for everyone involved with Gaia House.September welcomed returning students with the challenge of a new year, while the new Year 7swere faced with the prospect of establishing themselves in a new school.September saw the elections for Gaia House Council Members take place and the following studentswere voted in by their peers during House Tutor Time: George Hunt, Natasha Ahmed, Tara Mehra,Munashe Ganje, Anisah Chaudry, Jack Stokoe, Robbie Foster, Ricky Ndlovu, Julia Thurauf, KatieLong, Lea Foster, Shemelia Lewis, Jamal Chaudry and Chloe Donnelly.Congratulations to Lea Foster, Anisah Chaudry, Ricky Ndlovu and Munashe Ganje as they have alsobeen voted in by the rest of the House Council Members to represent the House as part of theAcademy Council.Term 1 has seen the Academy focus on Internationalism. Students and House Tutors have beenworking tirelessly to develop their project ideas relating to our chosen country - Africa. We wereinundated with posters, objects, power points and many other things that were produced within our6 House Tutor Groups and these were put on display in the atrium last week for everyone to see;Gaia House’s International Project Display - Africa10

African themed objectsInformation by students on their chosen African CountriesTerm 2 sees the Academy’s focus shift to Museum Learning with Arbib House so we look forward toseeing what is produced in the build-up to Christmas.11

The Eco-Council have again been busy drawing up ideas that could run and that could be developedwithin Sustainability Week in January 2014 and throughout the academic year. The Council memberschosen for Gaia House are Muneesa Natt, Kazia Edwards and Alara Chaudhery – well done girls.This week Gaia 1 JPA presented their Assembly to the rest of the house on ‘What is Music’. NatashaAhmed and Harry Dewing led the group in the design and development of the presentation andeveryone involved did a brilliant job.Gaia 1 JPA present their presentation during assemblyStudent Focus for Term 1:The following Gaia House students have been chosen to share their experiences, achievements andambitions for the future;Chloe Donnelly, Year 11, Gaia 4 BCHWhen I first started at The Langley Academy I didn’t take my education seriously and I was gettingattention for all the wrong reasons. I was on my last chance, but the teachers believed in me. Whydid I change? It was a lot to do with maturity, and I started to value my education and see that it waspart of my future. When I leave The Langley Academy I want to be a photographer and produce films.I have a vision of what I want to produce that means my work is unique to me, so I don’t worry aboutwhat other people are doing as I know I am as good as any of them. It was because others believed inme, that I now believe in myself and Michael Keller of The New York Film Academy believed in metoo. He saw the potential in my work and I have been offered a full scholarship at the New York FilmAcademy. My aim is to do 1 year in New York and the then 1 year in Los Angeles. None of thisseemed possible until recently. If anybody wants some advice on a career in film or photographycome and find me, I will help if I can.12

Frank Francis, Year 10, Gaia 4 BCHI am in Year 10 at the Academy and am proud to be part of GaiaHouse. I play for Queens Park Rangers Youth Team on a regularbasis and train every single day for 6 hours. I guess this has paidoff because in matches I score a lot of goals. I love trainingbecause it makes me feel that I am doing something good formyself and my future, and I know if I can do that, I can doanything. QPR have now promised me a full scholarship when Ileave The Langley Academy and this means I will earn money fordoing the sport that I love.It would be really cool if I could help other students to up theirgame as footballers so if anybody wants me to help I will if I can,just ask. Lots of teachers have supported me so I would say askfor help and you will get it.Jake Pritchard, Year 11, Gaia 5 NROOn 13 September my mum, stepdad and my step dad’s friend and I hiked up Scafell Pike, Cumbria,which is the highest mountain in England, at over 3000 feet. This took us 2 hours going up and then1.5 hours coming down. The weather was wet, with some sun at times but very cold. I feltoverwhelmed and happy when I got to the top and proud of my parents because I didn’t think theywould make it. This is the hardest physical and mental challenge I have ever completed, and I wantto climb more, maybe next time Ben Nevis. I have raised £500 so far and am aiming for £750. Wechose Sebastian’s Action Trust to donate to as they have helped us all in my family so much as theyprovide support for seriously ill children.13

Thanks to everyone who donated, please know your money has gone to an amazing charity. I’velearnt that if you put your mind towards something you can always bring out your best, but I wouldalways advise anyone planning something similar to train hard, as the rewards are well worth it. It ismy ambition to become a physiotherapist in the Army, and then possibly move into working withfootball clubs. Before doing this I aim to go into our Sixth Form here at The Langley Academy andstudy Sports BTEC.Jake Pritchard and his family after reaching the peak of Scafell Pike, CumbriaOverall, Term 1 has already been a busy but successful term for Gaia House students. Each and everystudent has an important role to play within the House and at the Academy and they have awonderful opportunity to achieve whatever they want to become as you can tell from the studentprofiles above. I wish everyone involved with Gaia House an enjoyable and successful year and I lookforward to the challenges of the academic year ahead.“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way tosucceed is always to try just one more time.”Thomas A. EdisonMr Spilsbury14

GLOBE HOUSEGLOBE HOUSE- INTERNATIONALISM FOCUS WEEK 7 – 11 OctoberThis term The Langley Academy celebrated INTERNATIONALISM THROUGH MUSIC. The theme of ourVertical Tutor Programme sought to explore the music of different continents and countries. Theseincluded Asia, South America, North America, Scotland and Ireland, Europe and Africa. Students wereencouraged to research how indigenous musical traditions were exported to other regions to becomesignificant and influential on the sounds and tones of new regions. Through this enterprise studentsgained a deeper insight into traditions and cultures that are not their own.These tasks culminated in a week of workshops that promoted a more active appreciation of ourcultural diversity. The activities of INTERNATIONALISM FOCUS WEEK included a world food festival,world music workshop, diversity through dance, museum focus on musical instruments fromaround the world, The Japan Society workshop, samba drumming workshop and release ofballoons among others.I am happy to let you know that four of the balloon tags that were released by the Year 8 studentsduring Internationalism Week have been returned to the Academy from France! Two were found inLe Mans, one in Normandy and the other in Castres. The students whose balloons were returned areInderpal Nijjar (8Da5), Jade Leonard (8Gl3), Danielius Makarevicius (8Da5) and Olivia Rolle (8He6).15

The highlights of the week were certainly the performance of our first ever Langley Academy Year 7choir and the Internationalism Fair. The video of this can be viewed on the Academy website. TheFair brought to life the creative natures of our students as they took pride in mounting their musicalexhibitions.I wish to thank everyone for their support during this week and look forward to a bigger and brightercelebration next week.The Japan Society WorkshopSophie Messet, Drilon Muneka and KiranNijhar playing musical instruments fromaround the world16

Junior Mortimer, Jaishree Davatwal, Ms Decosemo, Connor Taggart, Ms Kinch, Georgia Blackman and Simran Edwin with food from around the worldStudents wrote their names and home language on a note, then connected it with a string to families and friends around the world17

Mr Goodchild - Head of Henley House,Mr Bott – Head of Darwin House, MrSullivan – Assistant Head of ArbibHouse, Mr Spilsbury – Head of GaiaHouse, Ms Pereira – Head of GlobeHouse and Ms Decosemo – Head ofGrace House getting ready to releasetheir balloons.E SAFETYThe Langley Academy launched a programme on E-Safety this term in order to encourage ourstudents to maintain a safe online presence. The dangers of careless online usage were highlightedthrough specific and focused activities. Students were also exposed to a series of assemblies thatsupported this theme. One of the Academy’s key priorities this year is E-Safety.Ms Pereira18

GRACE HOUSEEach Grace House Tutor Group has held an election to vote for one Key Stage 3 (Years 7 and 8) andone Key Stage 4 (Years 9, 10 and 11) representative for the Grace House Council. The followingstudents were elected:Grace 1 KS3 – Donald Simbo KS4 – Jade KempsterGrace 2 KS3 – Laura Hogg KS4 – Aman BasraGrace 3 KS3 – Jordan Nicholls KS4 – Chandler BuckleyGrace 4 KS3 – Nayab Ishtiaq KS4 – Tarleen LidharGrace 5 KS3 – Priya Tumber KS4 – Praise OkoroGrace 6 KS3 – Muntaha Ahmed KS4 – Jasmine SidhuAt our first Grace House Council meeting, the students named above voted for one representativefrom each Key Stage to join the Academy Council. The results were extremely close, but the twosuccessful students were Jasmine Sidhu and Laura Hogg.All our new Year 7 students have settled in extremely well. It was a pleasure to see so many parentsat the Parent’s tea a few weeks ago. Most of the Year 7 students have submitted their transitionfolder for marking. This is work they were asked to do for their House Tutor over the summerholidays. There were a number of students who were awarded full marks. These students were AoifeBrennan, Sophie Bassett, Maisie Smart and Jamie Yau. The following students scored 45 out of 50;Nathan Dohil, Wadha Ahmed, Keara Howard-Phelan, Benson Mwangi and Esha Sandhu. All thesestudents will be receiving an award for their effort. Well done!We have just celebrated Internationalism week, brilliantly organised by Ms Pereira, Head of GlobeHouse. Grace House Tutor Groups presented their project on South America in a designated gazeboin the atrium. Thank you to all House Tutors and students involved in this! The Academy buzzed allweek with Music and Dance!Ms Decosemo19

HENLEY HOUSEWelcome to the new Year 7 students. It’s really pleasing to see somany enthusiastic faces who will further enhance the Henleyreputation over the coming years. Once such student is HarpreetDhillon (pictured right). Harpreet gave a lovely speech at our OpenEvening, just a few weeks into her first term here. You willappreciate that it is no easy task speaking in front of a theatre full ofadults, but she did very well.The new Henley Council has been formed for the coming year. Manpreet Kainth has returned tolead the meetings; Dylan Parwaga, Saipranav Sharma, Zolei Mananzai, Aleksandra Wieteska, KarisBoycott and Milo Quinton are the Key Stage 3 representatives; Aqsa Hussain, Stanley Butler, ByaderHamed, Faheem Khan, Shaya Gogia, Tom Weaver and Chloe Jacobs are the Key Stage 4representatives (pictured below). I look forward to working with each of them in the coming months.As you’ll be aware, the Academy has recently celebrated its Internationalism Week. The Henleystand at the fair displayed information and creative contributions in respect of the various strands ofAsian music. While all Henley Tutor Groups made valuable contributions, special mention should goto Henley 5 and the dance they performed and recorded for the occasion – a true team effort.Mr Goodchild20

6 th FORMThe 6 th Form has started in a very positive manner with a real sense of purpose. Year 12 have settledwell into the 6 th Form and are embracing the challenges of studying AS Levels and BTECs.STUDY SKILLSWe invited an external company in to deliver a session on study skills to Year 12 and 13. The studentslearned strategies about how to become an active learner rather than a passive learner – let’s hopethat they can put this into practice in the Mock Exam week in December.CREST AwardMr Brozny has been leading some of our Year 13 students through the CREST award and we arepleased to announce that Matthew Roberts, Jade Scammell, Gurgundeep Singh, Shiva Vanukuruand Archibald Nhlangano achieved the silver award from the British Science Association:UCASThe UCAS season has now opened and we have already sent many applications off including RussellGroup universities. Year 13 students are working hard on their personal statements and the Tutorsand teachers have worked hard to ensure the references are ready to go. Keep up the good workYear 13!Some students have decided to pursue a different pathway at post-18 i.e.apprenticeships/employment. These students are now being supported by Mr Trafford-Smith inorder to ensure they are taking every opportunity open to them and receiving the best possiblecareers advice and guidance.Year 11Year 11 students have already started to consider their post-16 options. We held a 6 th Form OpenEvening last week and we were really pleased with the amount of students/parents/carers whoattended and the questions that were asked about the different subjects we have to offer. The nextstep in the process is the Taster Day on Monday 16 December where Year 11 will attend TasterSessions of real A Level/BTEC classes. Students will be able to wear Business Dress for this day andwill have access to the 6 th Form Centre. For more information about applying to our 6 th Form pleasesee the 6 th Form section of our website.Ms Humber21

EnglishFour students – Holly Dixon, Jaishree Davatwal (Year 12), Chloe Jacobs and Yasen Mohammed (Year11) - took part in the First Story Conference for creative writers at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford,where they heard guest speaker Malorie Blackman, author of “Noughts & Crosses”, tell her story ofprejudice suffered growing up as a black teenager in Britain in the 1970s. She was told by her schoolthat “black girls do not go to University” and advised to become a secretary – advice that shocked theyoung people listening. After taking part in writing workshops, our four were given some advice onapplying to Oxford by the Admissions tutor for the College and invited to visit the College library. Forthe next seven weeks, the students will be going to Eton to join other schools and work with BenFaccini, a childrens’ author, on developing their creative writing skills further.The Passions series of lectures continues weekly with talks on” Lyrics”, “Does Science Fiction Have ToBe Science Fact?” and “The History of Poetry in 14 Poems”. An Accelerated Reading programme isbeing trialled in Year 9, to stretch advanced readers, by introducing them to a wider range ofchallenging texts.Year 12 and 13 A level students were taken to The Globe to see a production of “Macbeth”, anunsettling experience for some as they had not expected how noisy the open-air theatre would be.They also watched a filmed performance of “Othello” from the National Theatre, with Adrian Lesterin the title role. They definitely seemed to prefer comfy cinema seats to standing as Groundlings!Deborah Moggach signs a copy of her book for Chloe JabobsYasen Mohammed, Holly Dixon, Chloe Jacobs and Jaishree Davatwal22

MathsThe Mathematics Faculty and students have beenoff to a great start this year. Feeding on thefantastic GCSE results of last year’s Year 11students, the current cohort are eager to work justas hard to reach the results they deserve. The Year9 students worked in Maths on creating stopmotion videos on fractions for the Year 6 OpenEvening. Year 7 students have completed projectson constructing Islamic Art and learning about theimportance of the geometric shapes.With the focus on Internationalism, see if you canfill in the Maths facts below to the country it’soriginated from. A bar of chocolate will beawarded to the first student to bring the answers to the Head of Maths, Mr Katsholo.1. _________________ is the first country to treat 0 as a number and not just a divider ofpositive and negative values.2. The ___________________ were using equations and formulae to work out measurementsfor their buildings thousands of years ago.3. Maurits Cornelis Escher, an artist from ________________, was inspired by the mathematicalconcept of tessellation to create his art.4. ________________ has the largest land mass, whereas ______________ has the largestpopulation.ScienceThe Science Faculty is very pleased with our results in the summer. In particular, we had some greatachievements in Triple Science with several students achieving straight A’s. As I am sure you areaware it is a turbulent time in education and Science has not escaped from the government changes.Students need to be ready for some new challenges. For example there are no more modules inScience so students have to take their exams at the end of the year. To support students, revisionguides are available on the ParentPay Shop (click here:http://www.parentpayshop.co.uk/schools/8716905/uniform_shop.html) and can be collect from theprep (N1.14) room Monday and Tuesday break.23

It’s not all about exams though!! We have had someexciting experiments happening in Science Enrichmentfor example making pH indicators from naturalproducts, demonstrating chemical reactions such asElephant tooth paste and carrying out experimentsthat show how the liver cleans chemicals out of thebody. They are currently preparing to start a Nationalcompetition run by Dulux paint - we will let you knowhow that goes.The 6 th Form have recently presented their crestaward projects to a moderator and I will keep youposted about how that goes. We are hoping that they get Silver awards!We have also had some exciting projects running with the Independent State School Partnership withother schools coming to have enriching science experiences. More details about that in the nextnewsletter.HumanitiesHistoryHistory students this term have been studying a variety of topics. In Year 7, students have beenstudying a skills-based curriculum that looks at the philosophy of studying History which aims todevelop key Historical skills. Year 8 has completed a short study in causation by looking at the EnglishCivil War.At KS4, new Year 9s have started their GCSE by looking at the causes of World War One in 1914. Ofparticular note has been the excellent hard work that these students have been producing; theFaculty urges them to maintain these high standards! Year 10 has been developing theirunderstanding of Hitler's dictatorship by looking at the Hitler state and how it functioned. Our hope isthat students gain a better understanding of how governments work and follows on from their earlierunderstanding of democracy under the Weimar government. Year 11 has started studying theAfrican-American Civil Rights Movement and we received overwhelming support in this topic; Year 11deserve a huge congratulations for their mature approach to a difficult and controversial subject.Finally, at KS5, A level students are working extremely hard and enjoying their studies. Y12 visited aspecial exhibit at the British Library about propaganda in order to develop their understanding ofhow governments aim to control their citizens. Y13 have also been very proactive in their study of theCold War, with many rapidly developing their written technique for the academic rigours of their finalexams.24

GeographyThe Year 13s have been out collating data from Black Park regarding leisure and tourism in rurallandscapes in preparation for their report style examinations next summer.We are fast approaching our first Geography residential trip at TLA. The students will be visiting riverfeatures across Somerset as part of their controlled assessment process. We currently have over 50students attending and the number is still rising! You can view their place of residence here:http://www.field-studies-council.org/virtualtours/nettlecombecourt/index.htmlPlease remember to check your emails regarding the next instalment of payments.RPSIn RPS this term Year 7’s have been looking at religious communities and have looked closely at theJewish and Christian faith communities. Lots of students have made good progress and have made agood start to their RPS lessonsYear 8 have been looking at the key themes of Christianity through studying the film ‘Pay it forward’Later in the year they will develop their understanding of these key themes of the film further bydesigning their own charity project that will be financed by ‘Giving Nation.’ This is a nationalorganisation that works with schools to help encourage young people to give something back tosociety.Year 9 have started their GCSE studies andhave been looking at the relationship existingbetween religion and sport. As part of theirPSHE programme, a group of 50 Year 9’s weregiven the opportunity to take part in a ChickenShed Theatre workshop that highlighted theproblem of unwanted teenage pregnancy. Allstudents had a fantastic afternoon and cameup with some very interesting and thoughtprovoking ideas that were expressed wellthrough their final drama presentations.Year 9 students taking part in the Chicken Shed Theatre WorkshopYear 10 are continuing with their GCSE studies and have been examining arguments supporting ordenying the existence of God. The students have led most of the debates and have come up withsome very interesting viewpoints and perspectives that have led to lots of students doing very well intheir end of term exam.Year 11 are studying the AQA religion and sport module as part of their preparation for their finalGCSE exam in the summer.25

.Design TechnologyMr Mall, Ms Kinch and Ms Decosemo with Heston Blumenthal, celebrity chef and owner of The Fat Duck, a three-Michelin-starred restaurant in Bray,BerkshireIt has been an incredibly busy half term as students in all years have been working on new projectsacross all areas of Design Technology. We look forward to showcasing some of the outcomes inNovember.26

There has been an abundance of opportunities for catering and Food Technology students, in the lastfew weeks we have welcomed no less than 2 celebrity chefs, and we look forward to catching aglimpse of some of our staff and pupils on screen sometime soon.Design Technology was the place to be on Open Evening, under the expert guidance of some of ourfantastic students, prospective pupils had a go at DT, happily taking their produce home to enjoy.Thank you to Maisie Smart, Harpreet Dhillon, Junain Jassim, Ben Martin, Sehanna Dev, JavneetPhull, Connor Taggart, Ashlie Donnelly and Stephen Kan for your supreme efforts and help this term.Congratulations to Jamie Yau, winner of Octobers What Izzit competition. Don’t forget to get yourentries in, for your chance to be November’s winner.Keep up the good work.CURIOSITY- WHAT IZZIT??Competition time Year 7-13Correctly identify this object from DT for a chance to win a prize.Put your entries to Mrs Stacey in the competition box in SO12 byNovember 22nd‘You’ve got to be in it, to win it!’27

MFLIn how many countries is French spoken? Year 7 and 8students found out more about French speakingcountries as part of Internationalism Week.They were amazed that a high proportion of people incountries like Morocco, Togo, Ivory Coast or Tunisiaspeak French.“Blood, bones and body bits!”Naming body parts in French canbe a challenge, but it was madeeasy this term thanks to thescience department whoprovided us with torsos andskeletons!Rahul Doll, Ravi Sharda, Stanley Butler, Tanushree Bose, Catherine St Ledger, MeganMaynard, Tia Boland and Shannon Staphens with the labelled skeleton!The Year 10 students enjoyed thecompetition of labelling as manybody parts as they could inFrench.Dissection can be a lot of fun, as Y10students discovered! The Scienceand MFL faculties worked togetherto give students the opportunity todissect frogs and identify variousbody parts and organs, which theyhad to name in French.Catherine St Ledger and Sophi e YeoCristina Anniah and Maarukh Nasir28

CAPAA Level MediaYear 13 Media students were last week invited towork as journalists for the V&A Museum as part oftheir Creating the Future conference. As well asrecording breaking news live on Twitter, they also hadto document the event through a series ofphotographs and interviews. Student work wasexcellent and competent journalistic skills wereevident from all.Back Stage at London Fashion WeekendTextile Teacher Ms Brock spent 4 days in September working in the VIP LuxLounge at London Fashion Weekend. As well as meeting and greeting Luxticket holders Ms Brock had back stage access to the event. She was able tosit with the rest of the photographers and watch the designer Catwalk Showsfrom the front row. She was able the see this season’s collections fromdesigners: Giles Deacon, Holly Fulton,Julian Macdonald, ASHISH.Ms Brock was lucky enough to havebackstage access to the Julian Macdonald collection ofembellished dresses. She looks forward to delivering a lesson onhis collection and teaching her GCSE Textile students the differenttechniques he uses. Guests of the Lux Lounge included catwalk show presenter: Angela Scanlon andHilary Alexander. Nicola Adams and Katie Piper were guests of the M&S Catwalk show whichpromoted their new Autumn andWinter collections.In the Lux lounge visitors were alsogiven the opportunity to listen to atrend talk by stylist Kale Hewleette.She gave advice on how to wear thisseasons Romantic, Earthy, Geometricand Pink trends as seen on thecatwalk. It was a great experience andinsight into the catwalk and fashionindustry.29

Theatre TripsWe have run several successful theatre trips already this year with students across year groupsvisiting London to see The Lion King at The Lyceum and A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen at The Duke ofYork Theatre. A group of students have also headed to London to see the latest production ofChristopher Marlowe’s Edward II at The National Theatre. More theatre trips will be organised soon.Please ask your Drama teacher for details.PEYear 7 Football v Slough & EtonThe Year 7 started the season with a comprehensive 4-0 victory over Slough & Eton in the 1 st round ofthe Slough Cup. Goals from Bradley Farren (2), Bradley Foster and Camarl Gruber settled the gameand Bradley Farren was named man of the match. The team will now play St Edward’s or in thequarter final.Year 7 Football v St Edward’sThe Year 7 team made it through to the semi-finals of the Slough Cup after beating St Edward’s 4-2 ina highly competitive match. Bradley Farren (2), Aaron Wickens and Endi Danjolli scored the goalsthat secured the victory. Aaron Wickens was named man of the match after producing anothercomposed display in defence.Year 7 Football v Langley GrammarThe Year 7 team won their first league game of the season with a 7-1 victory over Langley Grammar.Bradley Farren (2), Conor Lawless (2), Aaron Wickens (2) and Bradley Foster scored the goals.Camarl Gruber was named man of the match for his excellent defensive performance.Year 7 Football v Grey Court SchoolThe Year 7 team cruised through the 1 st round of the National Cup with a 6-0 victory over Grey CourtSchool from Richmond. Goals from Bradley Farren (2), Zak Koundhi (2), Conor Lawless and LeonAhmed secured the victory. Bradley Farren was named man of the match for his performance inmidfield.Year 7 Football v St Bernard’sThe Year 7 team continued their outstanding start to the season with a 6-2 victory over St Bernard’s.A hat trick from Bradley Foster and further goals from Conor Lawless, Zak Koundhi and BradleyFarren secured the win. Ben Greenidge was named man of the match for his towering defensivedisplay.30

Year 11 Football v BeechwoodThe Year 11 team produced an outstanding performance to beat Beechwood 6-0 in the Slough Cup.Yaw Osei (4), Remi Meyers and Oliwier Slusarczyk scored the goals in a comfortable victory. Theteam produced an excellent passing display throughout and their attitude and application wasoutstanding throughout. Yaw Osei was named man of the match for his performance up front.Berkshire County FootballOn Saturday 12 October 3 students from the Academy represented the county in football fixturesagainst Hertfordshire. Olusola Sola-Ogunniyi in Year 9 was part of the U14 side that won 3-2 andRemi Meyers and Daniel Price were part of the U16 side that lost 2-1 with Remi captaining the side.All 3 students were a credit to the Academy and produced excellent individual performances.Year 9 Rugby v Langley GrammarThe first Rugby fixture for the Academy ended with a successful result against local rivals LangleyGrammar. The Year 9 boys have been working hard at training over the last few weeks and wereeager to represent the Academy at Slough Rugby club. The game started fairly evenly with LangleyGrammar applying the early pressure and managing to score an early try. This was the wake-up callthe academy needed and they immediately responded with the big lock Damilola Abegunde crossingwith a dangerous run. This was quickly followed up by tries from Olusola Sola-Ogunniyi and JawadNakdali both of which looked threatening for the whole game. The Academy boys maintained thishigh pressure and were able to score a further two more tries to finish the game 5-30. This was ahuge success for the Academy and look to build on this success against Beechwood on the 16th.Team: 1. Jack Edwards 2. Callum Hall 3. Cameron Sadique 4. Jawad Nakdali 5. Damilola Abegunde6. Amaan Khwaja 7. Farees Matloob 8. Hasan Ahmed 9. Michael Ahmed 10. Jamal Chaudry, 11.Manny Harlow, 12. Olusola Sola-Ogunniyi 13. Connor Dobbyn 14. Ben Harris 15. Harry Turner.Year 9 Netball v BeechwoodThe Year 9’s picked up their first win of the season with a selection of new players in the team. Theteam played well straight from centre which allowed them to gain control of the game straight awaywith the attack players moving the ball up to the net where the new team shooter Annabel Okoromade some great shots. The defence had very little to do for this game but when they did theyreacted well and did not let a single shot occur. The team were: Rochelle Scadding, Molly Frewin, ElaMetalia, Iesha Khan, Mattu Simbu, Annabel Okoro, Victoria Evans, Hana El Amri and FeliciaTang.Year 10 Netball v BeechwoodThe Year 10 team won their third game of the season but the latest against Beechwood was a recordwin of 26-0. The whole team played excellently, looking for passes and playing the way that they hadbeen practising in training which has paid off. The whole team were strong and all did their bit toaccomplish this win. The team were: Ellie Long, Katie Long, Kerrie Long, Leah Lewis, Stevie Swann,Emily Llwellyn, Praise Okoro and Erin Simmonds.31

BusinessThe Great TLA Bake-Off CompetitionEnterprising 6th Formers raised money for a charity which is close to all our hearts here at TLA, byorganising a whole Academy bake off competition.The event was arranged as part of their Business BTEC unit in event management and took place onThursday 3 October. Judging the competition was Royal chef, TV personality and restaurateur MrMichael Moore.Michael said “The standard of the entries into the cup cake competition is outstanding; it wasextremely difficult to choose the best ones. A big well done!”The Year 13 students involved in arranging the competition were Aamina Iqbal, Gurjit Uppal, IqbalSingh, Gavandeep Sandhu, Gurpreet Dhak, James Dillon, Kinzah Ahmad, Juneet Ghuman, LaurenCoughlan, Rajan Bhachu, Onissa Majid, Nusaybah Ali, Lenny Nderitu, and Aaron Shergill.Kinzah Ahmad, Aamina Iqbal, Gurpreet Dhak and Lauren Coughlan with Royal chef, TV personality and restaurateur Mr Michael Moore32

Aamina, who also has her own cupcake business, said “wewere delighted to get entries from every single year groupand from boys as well girls and staff members too, thanksto you all for helping to raise money for charity by buyingthe cakes”The overall winners were Year 8 students Priya Tumber,Melissa Daw and Samiha Rahim. In recreating The LangleyAcademy logo in sugarcraft the girls had shown realattention to detail and imagination (right). There were alsoprizes given for first to sixth place plus a winner in eachyear group and staff categories too.The prize winning entry from LSA Samina Qureshi also stood out asvery individual and was a life size cup of coffee, with milk and sugarmade entirely from sugarcraft with a chocolate fondant and sponge(left).Our restaurant Executive Chef Rohan, Head Chef Sam and Pastry ChefChris helped the 6th Formers coordinate and host the competitionand their help in judging the cakes and scoring them was invaluable.Pastry Chef Chris said, “I have eaten so much butter cream todaywhen I tasted the cakes I am on sugar overload!”In praising our restaurant Michael added, “I spend a lot of time visiting academies and colleges andmost of the time they are asking my advice on how to improve. I am overwhelmingly surprised todayas this is the first academy I have walked into where the standard and the quality of food is of a veryhigh professional level. A lot of thought has been put into both the nutrition and the presentation ofthe food. Food has always been a part of learning but I believe that The Langley Academy hasembraced the ethos of healthy eating and the kids are very lucky to be educated here”.Wise words!33

Museum LearningWe are pleased to welcome Ms Megan Barker to the Academy as ournew Museum Learning Officer.Megan joins us from the River & Rowing Museum in Henley whereshe has lots of experience of working with Langley Academy students.Megan says “I enjoy seeing museum learning from the school’s pointof view. Working with the students is my favourite part of the job.”“…a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”Year 12 English students enjoyed Macbeth at the Globe Theatre inLondon for their first Museum Learning trip of the year. This was anendurance test as they stood for the full production, over 3 hours, asGlobe Groundlings. Seeing Macbeth in performance helps the studentsunderstand the text. The experience of visiting the Globe Theatre,which is a recreation of the theatre from Shakespeare’s day, helpsthem get closer to the Tudor thrill of the theatre.Notre château!On the 22 November, our Year 7 French students will betaking over Windsor Castle! As part of national Kids InMuseums Day they are working on an exciting newexhibition to display Tudor clothes and armour. Thestudents will use French and English to create their ownexhibition. It will be on display to the general public forthe day and will be showcased at Langley Academy inJanuary.Some Year 7 students have already had the opportunity to meet a costume expert and try on somereplica costumes but next week the rest of the groups will be visiting the castle to meet an expert inarmour. The students will be researching the costume and then writing the exhibition labels inFrench.Hanging Around!You may have noticed we have some new hanging objects around the Atrium.Over the summer we installed 2 new boats, an army car and a DNA sculpture.We were also really pleased to have the ceramic objects which have beenloaned to us by the V&A. The oldest ceramic dates back from the Tudor times,around 450 years ago.34

Student VoiceStudent Leaders – Student CouncilsThere are numerous ways in which the students at the Academy can develop and cultivate their skillsand attributes via involving themselves in leadership roles within academy life.Charities CouncilWe would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who attended the TLA Summer Fair at the end oflast year. It was a fantastic day, enjoyed by everyone. We raised an amazing £1489 for Charity, whichwill be donated to CLIC Sargent in memory of Ryan Pritchard. Huge congratulations to the SRB whosestall raised the most money and all the members of Grace House as their stalls raised the mostmoney for charity.The Charities Council continue to meet at lunchtime every Thursday. All students are welcome toattend. This year we will continue to plan and run charitable events to raise money for our 6 HouseCharities and National events. We will also continue to work with the charities following the supportour funding goes towards.Museum CouncilWelcome to 2 new members of Museum Council, Leah Lewis and KarisBoycott!We also have new objects around the Academy. The ceramics that theMuseum Council chose from the collection at the V&A are now ondisplay in the foyer cases. It is the first time that the V&A have loanedthese objects for display in a school!It seems a long time since we visited the V&A to choose the objects but ithas shown us that ‘the objects have to go through a long process to letus have them’. The council are developing tours of the ceramics and theother new hanging objects and hope to deliver them to House Tutor Groups after half term.Eco-CouncilTania Decosemo (Head of Grace House) has just taken over the role of running the Academy Eco-Council. The Academy has already been awarded its Bronze and Silver Eco-Schools Awards and theaim of the Eco- Council this year is to gain the Green Flag status. This will involve input from acrossthe Academy for a whole academy project.35

The students who make up the Eco-Council are:Arbib – Farha Salim, Torres Iqbal and Wiktoria DlubakDarwin – Ali Akhtar, Zahira Batool, Emily Hilling, Matthew Cargin and Ben Martin (3 students to bechosen)Gaia – Munashe Ganje, Karamveer Singh, Belinda Nezin, Usman Zaffar, Kazia Edwards, MegiAlimani, Sunil Doshi, Alara Chaudhery and Muneesa Natt have all volunteered but 3 will be electedto the Eco-Council.Globe – Nicole Blackman, Ben Kingston and Tanushree BoseGrace - Leah Lewis, Ravi Sharda and Jordan FelsteadHenley – Faheem Khan, Maarukh Nasir and Caylum SantAt our first meeting was held on Friday 11 October and we discussed a number of issues:1) The Eco-Council would like to deliver an assembly to each of the six Houses on Sustainability,but with a particular emphasis on recycling bins in the Academy and the setting up of wastefood bins in the restaurant and Food Room to increase composting.2) The Eco-Council would like each house to have input into the Organic Garden. Also, to restartthe gardening club during Enrichment.3) The Eco-Council would like to see some plants around the atrium, especially at Reception.4) The group would like to visit a Green Flag Ambassador school and aspire to become anAmbassador school ourselves.Our next meeting is on Friday 18 October to discuss the way forward to Eco-Schools Green Flagstatus.Sports CouncilThe Sports Council will be meeting in the last week of term to discuss how to make sport/PE at theAcademy even better than last year. The stand out achievement for last year was the introduction ofthe Rio 2016 Club allowing students to play Olympic and Paralympic Sports including WheelchairBasketball! This was run by Matthew Ensby and Bradley Powell and was a real success!As the new school year begins to take shape we will be joined by our new members. The threenewcomers who will be joining the Sports Council are Krishan Sharda, Akash Kumar and BrandonCalder and we look forward to working with them.Mr Evans and Mr Elliott will be overseeing the Sports Council this year and look forward to workingwith all the students to offer opportunities throughout the year.36

House and Academy CouncilThis term has seen the House Council election which has led to the election of some new faces…butalso a few old ones. The House councils meet twice a term and is overseen by their Head of Houseand the students input has contributed greatly to the Academy’s development and progression.The process has been very successful and we are now in the final stages of nominating the AcademyCouncil from the nominated house students. Good luck to all who are standing and let’s hope we canbuild on all the positives of last year’s success.CareersFlying Towards Their FutureStudents from Year 11 were invited to spend a morning at British Airways Headquarters at Waterside,Heathrow to discover the kind of careers and apprenticeships offered by the company. OnWednesday 2 October, eleven of our students spent the morning working with students from otherschools plus staff from British Airways and Learning to Work, completing a range of activitiesdesigned to help them find out more about specific job roles within the airline. Students listened topresentations from British Airways staff, had the opportunity to talk to current apprentices about therealities of a working life with BA as well as receiving a tour around the impressive Watersidebuilding.FKaran Thapa, Emily Smith, Aranvir Grewal, Delwyn Rose, Sundeep Malhi, Ria Fenner, Sabira Chowdhury, Samer Alrashidi, Chloe Evans, ArpnaArora, Khadija Ahmed outside Waterside, Heathrow37

Year 11 OptionsYear 11 – Raising The Participation Age – Post 16 OptionsYear 11 students should be considering their options for Post 16 provision. Now is the time to belooking at 6 th Form and College courses, attending open days and booking taster days if available;students can find prospectuses from local colleges in the Careers Area or on college websites. Overthe coming weeks Year 11 students will have the opportunity for a careers guidance meeting witheither Ms Turner or with an external Careers Guidance Professional from ‘Adviza’. Drop In sessionsare available in the Careers Area every break and lunchtime should students need advice or help withapplication forms, CV’s, etc.Below is information on the Raising The Participation Age and what options are available tostudents.Raising the Participation Age Briefing for Parents and CarersDo you have a child born on or after 1 st September 1996?From September 2013, all young people in England will be expected to continue learning until theend of the academic year in which they turn 17. In 2015, this will be extended to their 18 th birthday,or earlier if they achieve a level 3 qualification beforehand. Currently, compulsory education inEngland ends at 16. This increase is called, ‘Raising the Participation Age’.What does this mean for my son or daughter?The options are: An Apprenticeship Full-time education, such as a school sixth form, or further education college, or sixth formcollege, or training provider; or special school, including independent specialist provision forthose with the most significant disabilities and learning difficulties; or home education in line withthe regulations pre-16. However, this does not mean young people must stay on at school. Full or part-time employment, or self-employment with the equivalent of a day per week fortraining, either as part of the employment or off the job. Re-engagement provision for those who have been absent from learning before they were 16. Volunteering (including caring) or an internship for 20 hours or more a week, for more than 8weeks combined with the equivalent of a day off per week for training.38

Why should my son or daughter take part in this?Increased participation will give your child better job prospects and higher earnings over theirlifetime. For example, getting a level 3 Apprenticeship increases earnings by an estimated £105,000and a level 2 Apprenticeship by £73,000. Continuing and achieving in further learning will prepareyour child with the skills needed for the world of work, helping them to compete where unskilledwork opportunities are decreasing.For further information about Raising the Participation Age and the various learning options visit:www.connexions-berkshire.org.uk/, or the Raising Participation Partnership:http://microsites2.segfl.org.uk/view_page.php?id=2170Year 7 Summer SchoolWe were delighted to see over 40 students attend the Academy’s first Summer School in the lastweek of the holidays. This was an opportunity for students to get to know the Academy a little more,to meet other students in their year and to develop their literacy, numeracy and practical skills.Students under took a range of activities each day based around the book ‘The Wind in the Willows’.39

As a finale on the Friday afternoon their families were invited in to see what they had been up to andsome parents even had a go on the rowing machines!!!40

Year 7 Hillingdon TripYear 7 students had a fantastic time undertaking a range of fun and problem solving activities at theHillingdon Outdoor Adventure Centre.Students were divided into teams to encourage working together and as well as building their teamspirit each team also had the opportunity to build a raft...some more successfully than others!The sun was out, the sky was blue and the pictures below tell the story better than I could ever do!!!!Thank you to all the students and staff who took part and especially to parents and carers who had tosort the very wet and dirty kit bag at the end of the day.Lost Property - We still have a number of items that were left at Hillingdon. If you are missinganything, please go to the SSM desk.Ms Wauchob41

Organic GardenOrganic Gardeners Priya Tumber, Samiha Rahim and Muntaha Ahmed marvel at the size of Aubergines in the poly-tunnelFrom a seed to a fully grown plant,my heart has now ripped apart.All alone,sitting there I moan.Asking for a new friend,to help my heart mend.What's that I see?A flower for me?Now I'm not alone,especially not with a boring gnome!The garden is bright,but at night,it’s such a delight!So many different plants,it makes you want to dance,in the Langley Academy's Organic Garden!By Priya Tumber, Year 842

When I first planted the seed, it was really small.I had planted it in April so it had quite a bit oftime to grow so I left it for a few months andnow it is a really big pumpkin. There was someother ones that had grown with my one, but theyare just average size. My one is 2 times bigger,maybe even 3! All I know is my one is the bestpumpkin. It is coming up to Halloween now so Ican take my one home and make some scaryfaces on it and my mum’s going to makepumpkin pie. I had planted this really bigpumpkin with Mr Haden. He is a really goodteacher. It is good to have him in GardeningClub.You have to come to Gardening Club – it is reallythe best thing for Enrichment. I have plantedother things that we have sold to the TLArestaurant like tomatoes, lettuce andstrawberries and carrots.Liam Bates, Year 8 with his prize pumpkin – just in time for Halloween!43

New BeginningsThis is an article from ‘Grow It’ magazine about Science Teacher Mr Thiessen - runner up for bestallotment.Berkshire school teacher Roger Thiessenonly recently discovered gardening. “I findit’s a wonderful stress reliever and havingsome dirt under my fingernails makes mefeel a little closer to nature,” he says. “I’malso an avid cook so growing my own vegensures my food is fresh, local and grownsustainably.”Roger took on his allotment last July, tamingthe neglected plot from a mass of weedswith an initial application of glyphosatebefore switching to a more organicapproach. A greenhouse was sourced onFreecycle and erected and a series of sixfootwide beds running the width of the plotdug out. Soft fruit and an existing cherry tree provide sweet pickings.Roger has concentrated on open-pollinated varieties within his ten beds in order that he can collecthis own seed. Newly planted clumps of comfrey will be used as fertiliser in the years to come, whileflowering borage has put his plot firmly on the bees’ map. “It hasn’t all been success – I’ve struggledwith peas and have battled the pigeons for my currants and cherries, but it has been an excellent firstyear and I’m looking forward to what the next year will bring.”44