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Attleborough Academy Times Spring 2019 www.aan.norfolk.sch.uk Sixth Form Presentation Evening - Page 22 Stage Lit Performance at Norwich Playhouse - Page 18 Annual Presentation Evening 2018 - Page 4 Ski & Snowboarding Trip 2019 - Page 14 working with
Academy Times Spring 2019
Principal’s Foreword
out to acknowledge the success of our students.
Acknowledgement is one of our main core values
and so we thank all those of you who help us reward
the success of our students so admirably.
Similarly, we held our annual Sixth Form Presentation
Evening where our main speaker, entrepreneur
Kieran Miles, delivered an inspirational speech to our
returning Sixth Form cohort from 2018 encouraging
them all to take every opportunity in life to achieve
their dreams and aspirations.
Last term was another period in which students were
offered an incredible range of opportunities. As I
always state, I do think that the impressive variety of
cultural, education trips and activities that you can
see highlighted in this publication are a tribute to the
dedication and commitment of our wonderful staff.
When you consider that each trip and activity has to
have an enormous amount of preparation to ensure
that the event can run smoothly and safely, we all do
owe an enormous amount of respect to the staff who,
despite the increasing national pressures to focus
solely on results, still show the level of dedication to
offer so many of these experiences which so enrich
Welcome to the Spring Term 2019 edition of the the development of our students.
Academy Times.
Our new building programme is also picking up
This edition highlights the many success of the speed as we are now in the final decision making
Academy since before Christmas which seems so process of interior design before work commences in
long ago. Last term, was where our core values came the Summer Term which will see the existing mobiles
to the fore in the Main School Presentation Evening to the front of the Academy demolished and the new
which gave us the opportunity to acknowledge and Reception Block built which will also include Art,
celebrate with the year group that had collectively Drama and the Student Support Centre.
achieved the highest grades ever at the Academy.
As our main speaker, we welcomed back ex-student In this Spring Term, we will hold our final set of mock
Rob Jones who is now the Chief Superintendent, exams for our examination years and so I would
Police Commander for Westminster, Hammersmith like to thank all of our students for their continued
and Fulham and Kensington and Chelsea. Rob commitment to their studies and I wish Year 11 and
entertained us all with a thought-provoking speech Year 13 particularly, all the best of luck with all of
that also included his recollections and admirations their upcoming exams. I would also like to thank
of our own Mr Davies. We were also blessed to our staff for their hard work and dedication and all
be treated to a stunning performance from world our parents and carers for their continued support.
renowned soprano Soeun Jeon who flew in from We will now look forward to the sun shining in the
Italy to be with us on the evening. Summer Term and so I would like to wish you all a
very happy Easter break with your families.
I would like to send my appreciation to those
businesses and organisations in our community who Mr McShane
sponsored the many prizes and trophies that we give Principal
02
Netball Round Up
Year 8 Netball tournament @ Wayland
6th March 2019 – Match Report
On the 6th March 2019 we competed in a netball
tournament at Wayland Academy. Our first game was
against Wayland and we won 4-0. We had previously
played this team before so we had a rough idea of their
game play and tactics. Then we had a short break, during
which Mrs Sparrow and Miss Norton gave us advice on
coming forward to collect the ball.
Next up we played Iceni and beat them 3-0. At 4:45pm
we competed against Diss and won 5-0, this was a
tough game because their defense was strong, but Ruby
Minns and Sophie Randall worked around the circle well
and their shooting was very accurate. The next school
we played was ASHS, in this game we were very strong
together and used good strategies. We intercepted
many balls which meant we were able to score from
their centres. From good passes, interceptions and Other Netball News
brilliant shots we won 6-1. Everyone played superbly
and communicated well. We maintained a good stamina Year 11 Netball team continues to grow in strength after
throughout the tournament. their visit to the Regionals earlier in the year. They
have now progressed through to the South Norfolk
In the final we competed against Wymondham College. League Semi Finals against Diss.
They are our toughest opponents! Both teams played
brilliantly and by the end of the match Wymondham Year 9 Netball also continue to grow as a team.
College had beaten us 7-1. But AAN kept our heads high This year they have played at the National Schools
and had a positive attitude throughout the game. Tournament, county round and they are South Norfolk
After the tournament had finished the player of the match League Semi Finalists. They play Hobart on Monday
was Danni Overton for brilliant interceptions during every 11th March – well done ladies!
game. Well done Danni!
Year 7 and 8 netball games are now taking place, so
Thanks to Mrs Sparrow and Miss Norton for coming look out on Twitter @TSparrowAAN for results.
and encouraging us in the tournament.
Maisie Baldwin
www.aan.norfolk.sch.uk 03
Annual Presentation Evening 2018
On Wednesday 5th December, staff and students the wonderful Soeun Jeon sang Puccini’s tender ‘O Mio
celebrated the remarkable achievements of Year Babbino’ followed by a beautiful operatic rendition of
11, who had produced the highest GCSE grades at ‘O Holy Night’, with soaring high notes that impressed
the Academy to date, and also those students from all. The audience were delighted by the impressive
throughout the Academy who have garnered great performance and students are still talking about her
success across a diverse range of accomplishment. voice and the incredible emotion in her singing.
The Principal, Mr Neil McShane, stressed how “grateful
During the evening students from Year 11 proudly and fortunate” we were to have a world class soprano
collected their examination certificates. Individual subject singer “flying in specially from Italy” to perform at
awards were also presented. Further to this, trophies Attleborough Academy.
were awarded to current students in each year group
who have excelled in participation, respect, Staff and students are most grateful that students were
independence, determination and excellence, the key awarded a permanent memento for their achievements,
principles of the Academy. Students were also rewarded due to the generous sponsorship of many local
for progress within subject areas across the year groups. businesses. The valuable link between the Academy
and the community is ever strengthening, widening
The Academy Hall, packed with an audience of staff, students’ horizons.
parents, students and local dignitaries, were delighted
to listen to the inspiring words of the Guest Speaker It was a tremendously successful evening with parents
for the evening, Mr Robert Jones, a highly successful and staff being able to celebrate the achievements of our
former pupil at the school. Now having risen through the wonderful academy students.
ranks to Chief Superintendent, Police Commander for
Westminster, Hammersmith, Fulham, Kensington and
Chelsea, Mr Jones was well qualified to talk to the
students about setting high goals, having aspirations,
as well as a focus on how to achieve them.
Attleborough Academy was also extremely honoured to
have a special guest, the internationally renowned opera
singer Soeun Jeon, at its annual Presentation Evening.
She has performed globally, training with the best and
having the same voice coach as Pavarotti. Soeun now
lives mainly in Italy, focusing on leading masterclasses
and supporting young people to achieve their musical
ambitions.
It was fantastic to hear a live professional performance
of such high standard in the Academy hall. Accompanied
by the Academy English and piano teacher, Deirdre Marr,
04 www.aan.norfolk.sch.uk
Year 7 - 10 Award Winners
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT JUNIOR PREFECT OF THE YEAR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT
IN FUNDRAISING KATIE CURSONS IN BOXING
SIENNA POCHIN LYDIA NAGLE
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT PROGRESS AWARD PROGRESS AWARD PROGRESS AWARD
IN FUNDRAISING YEAR 7 YEAR 8 YEAR 9
CAITLIN TAYLOR ALIX KUBALA RITA ALEEVA RHIANNON CHAMBERLAIN
PROGRESS AWARD SIMON GANT AWARD DETERMINATION AWARD EXCELLENCE AWARD
YEAR 10 LOUIS PRESTON YEAR 7 YEAR 7
TILLY WARREN-PETERS ESTELLE MAHER HARVEY JUDE
INDEPENDENCE AWARD PARTICIPATION AWARD RESPECT AWARD DETERMINATION AWARD
YEAR 7 YEAR 7 YEAR 7 YEAR 8
NEILA EZERSKYTE HOLLY MORTIMER RALPH FISHER ELOISE LILLEY
www.aan.norfolk.sch.uk 05
Year 7 - 10 Award Winners
EXCELLENCE AWARD INDEPENDENCE AWARD PARTICIPATION AWARD RESPECT AWARD
YEAR 8 YEAR 8 YEAR 8 YEAR 8
MILLIE GUNN ERIN ANDERSON SCOTT SUGGITT MIFFY GRANT
DETERMINATION AWARD EXCELLENCE AWARD INDEPENDENCE AWARD PARTICIPATION AWARD
YEAR 9 YEAR 9 YEAR 9 YEAR 9
KAI RUSH CHARLIE SCOULDING THOMAS LAMB RUBY SMALLWOOD
RESPECT AWARD EXCELLENCE AWARD INDEPENDENCE AWARD
YEAR 9 YEAR 10 YEAR 10
JAMES MARJORAM AMELIA ANEMA TALYN WOODROW
PARTICIPATION AWARD RESPECT AWARD
YEAR 10 YEAR 10
EMMA SQUIRES JAKE STACEY
06 www.aan.norfolk.sch.uk
Year 11 Award Winners
ALL ROUND ACHIEVEMENT AWARD ALL ROUND EXCELLENCE ART AWARD
DAISY EKE IN PHYSICAL EDUCATION HANNAH SEYMOUR
TILLY ANEMA
ART AWARD BUSINESS STUDIES AWARD CITIZENSHIP AWARD
IN EXPRESSIVE ARTS JESSICA PERRY ELLIE PRESTON
SARAH SMITH
D&T AWARD D&T AWARD
GP - LASMA CISEIKO & LUCY SPURGEON PRODUCT DESIGN - MIA KRUGER
DAVID BARTRAM AWARD DRAMA AWARD ENGLISH LANGUAGE AWARD
FOR DETERMINATION ELLIE SANGER ELEANOR GINNS
JESSICA JAMES
www.aan.norfolk.sch.uk 07
Year 11 Award Winners
FRENCH AWARD GEOGRAPHY AWARD HEAD BOY & HEAD GIRL
MATTHEW WALLIS & ALEX GOOD FRASER ARDEN MATTHEW WALLIS & CHLOE MATHISON
HISTORY AWARD ICT & COMPUTING AWARD MATHEMATICS AWARD MUSIC AWARD
MADISON CUBLEY CALLUM LODGE BECKY EDE EMMA FOSTER
MUSIC PERFORMANCE AWARD ORACY SKILLS AWARD OUTSTANDING GCSE RESULTS
JOSEPH ROSALES CHLOE MATHISON MIA KRUGER
OUTSTANDING PROGRESS RELIGIOUS AWARD
AWARD MEGHANA SUNIL
MATTHEW WALLIS
08 www.aan.norfolk.sch.uk
Year 11 Award Winners
SARAH MEAD CORE SARAH MEAD SENIOR PREFECT
SCIENCE AWARD SCIENCE AWARD OF THE YEAR
JESSICA JAMES MIA KRUGER HANNAH SEYMOUR
SOCIAL CONTRIBUTION AWARD SPORTING ACHIEVEMENT SPORTING ACHIEVEMENT
RACHEL BICKEL HARRY CANHAM JESSICA JAMES
All of us at the Academy would like to extend our thanks for the generous support of these local
businesses, without which we would not be able to organise such a successful and important event:
Acutech Precision Engineering Ltd
Bello’s Pizzeria
Caroline Flaherty
Christmas Carnival
Dolphin Double Glazing Services
East of England Co-op Funeral Services
Edwards and Blake
Ewin Farms Ltd
Family Car Sales
Great Ellingham (St James) Scout Group
Great Ellingham Pretenders
Martin Christopher Opticians
Mellor Metals
Millbank Estate Agent
Nuts ‘n’ Bolts
Repco Roof Tiles Ltd
Richard Johnston
Sherbourne House Hotel
St Marys Church
Tom’s Fish Bar
Weatherill Brothers Ltd
William French
www.aan.norfolk.sch.uk 09
Tender Arts Year 9 Workshops
Tender is an arts charity working with young people like. Michelle and Gary from Tender Arts said that
to prevent domestic abuse and sexual violence by the Year 9 students worked with an enthusiasm and
promoting healthy relationships based on equality understanding of Drama that they would expect to see
and respect. from trained actors. Well done to all of you involved
for taking part in something that was engaging and
In January two of their workshop leaders came to AAN educational. Theatre that makes a difference to people
and worked with a group of our Year 9 Drama students is the very best type of Theatre!
for an intensive two days. In this time they learned about
the different kinds of abuse through workshops and It was great for Year 8 to have this experience and it
created performances to share their knowledge with the was reinforced a few weeks later with an assembly
rest of the year group. from the Police about Safe Relationships.
At the end of the second day the whole of Year 8 came
to watch these performances in the school hall. They
were incredibly impressed by the standard of the work
and, more importantly, left the hall more knowledgeable
about recognising what a healthy relationship looks
10 www.aan.norfolk.sch.ukLibrary Events English
Speaking
Union (ESU)
- Spoken
Shakespeare
Update
Last week AAN held the
first round heats of the
ESU’s Spoken Shakespeare
competition.
As well as being Valentine’s The annual World Book Day The external adjudicator Laura
Day, the 14th February is also celebrations took place on Tompkins, who is a former AAN
International Book-Giving Day. Thursday 7th March, with activities student, felt that the competition
happening throughout the day. was very close, but eventually
To mark these celebrations the decided that Ellie, Maggie, Emilia
library hosted ‘Blind Date with a During form time we had the Inter- and Holly had won through
Book’. Each year the BookTrust House Book Quiz, where a tight to the Regional Finals. Many
kindly provides free books and battle saw Kett victorious, with congratulations to them.
resources through their School Nelson in 2nd place, Boudicca 3rd
Library Packs. These books were and Cavell 4th. Then at lunchtime All the students worked very
wrapped in brown paper and put on we had a World Book Day party. hard on learning and performing
display for students to choose from; As well as balloons, bunting and their lines and there were also
the idea being that students would party snacks, students had the exceptional performances from
be issued with a book not knowing opportunity to play games, recreate Chiana, Thomas and Chloe, but
anything about it, encouraging them book covers in our ‘photo booth,’ unfortunately only four students
to not judge a book by its cover and enter a ‘How Many Words are could be chosen to represent the
and to take the opportunity to try a in the Book’ competition. The book school; Chiana was chosen to
genre of book that they might not was Harry Potter & the Prisoner of be first reserve. Good luck to our
ordinarily choose. This proved to Azkaban containing 107,253 words finalists for the regionals on 3rd
be a popular event, with students – congratulations to Thomas in of April in Ipswich.
excitedly unwrapping their books to Year 7 for winning with the closest
find out which one they had chosen! guess of 107,200!
www.aan.norfolk.sch.uk 11New Technology Helps Norfolk School Pupils Predict the Impact of Global Weather Events This term Year 10 students were given the chance to learn about the impact of weather and climate events, using an innovative new tool developed by the World Energy & Meteorology Council (WEMC). Kit Rackley, WEMC’s Education & Program Officer and a former Geography teacher, came into AAN to help lead the session with two groups of Year 10 students. The sessions used a web-based tool called the European Climatic Energy Mixes (ECEM) Demonstrator. The demonstrator was designed in collaboration with WEMC’s partners in the UK and Europe, to help the energy industry and policy makers assess how well energy supply will meet demand over different time periods, by visualising climate and energy data. By assessing historical data about key weather events across Europe, the demonstrator helped the students to predict the impact of climate change and anticipate future risks. AAN is the first school in the UK to use this tool as a teaching resource, currently only two other schools have used the demonstrator; one in France and the other in Ghana. After the session the students were able to give some feedback to Kit on how the programme could be improved for future use in education. 12 www.aan.norfolk.sch.uk
TITAN Three of our Year 11 students have successfully passed their TITAN Green Test, enabling them to travel independently by public transport. Well done to Ben, Kelli and Charlie who have all made amazing progress on the TITAN scheme over the last few years. Year 11 trip to the Sainsbury Centre On Wednesday 13th February, we took a group of Year 11 GCSE Art students to the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts in Norwich where we were joined by artist Genevieve Rudd. After exploring the permanent collection on the theme of portraiture and making drawing-filled zines, we turned our 2D sketches into 3D wire and mod rock sculptures. It was a joy to see all students engage with the activities and being confident to explore more contemporary working methods. Genevieve applauded the students for their work. To finish off an exciting day, we took a walk through the sculpture park, creating more drawings and reflecting on a great day! www.aan.norfolk.sch.uk 13
Ski & Snowboarding Trip 2019
This year 14 students travelled to loathed by snowboarders. However, sunshine all week. Après-ski events
Italy to enjoy the challenge of skiing this year’s group of snowboarders included bum boarding and a torch-
and snowboarding. As always, we manged to get the whole way down lit ski where all the schools grouped
had a fantastic time and this year the run without having to constantly together and skied down the slope
the sun truly shone on this trip. push themselves which shows talent whilst holding glowsticks. We went
in their ability. on night walks to the gelateria to try
The beginners group took to the out all the tasty flavours; chocolate
slopes like professionals and really Yet again the weather treated us and hazelnut were clear favourites
put in every effort to progress as fast kindly and we had back to back within this year’s group.
as they could. Even when they fell
over they managed to get right back
up again and plough on. They even
surprised the teachers when they said
they had skied in part of the resort
which is notoriously hard to ski in and
full of red pistes!
The intermediates and advanced
skiers also progressed really well each
day and, by the end of the week, the
group come down one of the most
infamous black runs in the resort,
“Paradiso”. There were some tough
moments and lots of screams could
be heard from some members of the
group but there was a tremendous
sense of achievement in completing it.
The snowboarders also loved being
out on the slopes and they all got
stuck in to the fun. They even
managed to finish off the “Huskey
Run” with flair by the end of the week.
This piste is long and flat which
means it is usually loved by skiers and
14 www.aan.norfolk.sch.ukThe following awards were given out this year: • The Hansel and Gretel Award for dropping his gloves all the time – George Simcock-Brown • The Crash Bandicoot Award for bashing in to lots of people – Beth Evans • The Beth Tweddle Award for the most gymnastic moves on the slope – Erin Anderson • The “For the Emperor” Award for being the most passionate about Warhammer – Jonnie Swaddling • The Phone Escape Artist Award for dropping their phone off the balcony – Ella Cockerill-Banks • The Jenga Award for falling over the most – Kelli Parratt • The Best Beginner Award for the most natural first-time skier – Morella Clarke • The Kung Fu Panda Award for best looking tan lines – Alfie Williams • The Frozen Peas Award for the most unusual food choices – Jake Hensley • The White Rabbit Award for always being last to be ready – Liam Allen • The Vanguard Award for watching over his group and supporting the instructor – Connor Pettifer And a special three-part award went to our “Sweet Caroline” 6th form choir: • The Three Tenors “Pavarotti” Award for group vocal talents – Seb Cawley • The Three Tenors “Domingo” Award for group vocal talents – Kit Neil • The Three Tenors “Carreras” Award for group vocal talents – Charlie Mahoney As a final thanks from the teachers to the students on the trip, thank you for making it such an enjoyable trip and we’re glad you had fun. www.aan.norfolk.sch.uk 15
Curious Incident London Trip
GCSE & A Level Drama Trip to London
During this trip, led by Head of Drama, Ms Jones, the
At the end of January 2019, over fifty of our students gained vital understanding of a diverse range
Attleborough Academy Year 9, 10, 11 and 13 Drama of acting, movement and technical skills that can be
students experienced the wonder of the world employed to enrich a performance. The students all had
renowned play “The Curious Incident of the Dog in a fantastic day out and were a total pleasure to be in the
The Night-Time”, when the smash-hit National Theatre company of throughout the trip: they received praise
production returned to London for a limited season from all the adults they encountered, on the journey and
after an acclaimed UK and International tour. at the theatre, for being such excellent representatives
of the Academy by showing such maturity and
This live theatre experience - a play which brings Mark impeccable behaviour.
Haddon’s best-selling novel to the stage and is the
recipient of seven Olivier Awards and five Tony Awards
- fulfils a vital part of the students’ GCSE and A Level
courses. Trips like this provide a truly effective learning
experience by modelling excellence in the subject area;
a production of this quality provides the opportunity
to really boost their overall grades in their live theatre
analysis.
16 www.aan.norfolk.sch.ukCritique of “The Curious Incident of the Dog in The Night-Time”
by Year 12 Drama student Ellie Sanger:
This intricate National Theatre original production, In Christopher’s case, his Asperger’s has pushed his
with movement created by Frantic Assembly is based parents to separate and for lies to develop as a result
around the novel by Mark Haddon. The central message of bottled up frustration. This makes the audience now
that was evident to me, was how strenuous life can empathise with both Christopher and everybody around
be for those living with autism. The director clearly him who cares for him.
deemed it important for the audience to leave with the
understanding of the complexities of everyday life that We see Christopher fantasises about being an astronaut,
people suffering with Asperger’s syndrome must endure. he was carried around stage like a rocket which brought
The protagonist Christopher used a mathematical and his fantasy to life for us watching. The stage was
logical approach to his personal, everyday problems, covered in star constellations as Christopher
which enables him to have a sense of control over the uncontrollably reveals his never-ending knowledge
chaos. His analytical mind is presented on the stage: regarding physics. His intelligence is astounding to
The End on stage was transformed into an abstract, 3D the audience and shows an aspect of Asperger’s that
space/time graph. When Christopher faced something is a gift. Soon after we are reminded of the ongoing
challenging, a kaleidoscope of words and prime negatives associated with Asperger’s. Such as
numbers were projected on the walls and floors of the Christopher’s high attention to detail and obsessive
stage in a chaotic manner. This showed an insight to nature. The obsessive aspect of his personality is evident
how complex Christopher’s psychological self is and when he is determined to solve the mystery of the
the difficulty to make order and sense in his mind when murdered dog. We see how much it plays on his mind
facing a world so overwhelming for him. when the outline of where the dog once was remains
on stage. This shows how people living with autism are
One of Christopher’s most prevalent personal struggles constantly preoccupied with so many thoughts.
was his lack of ability to verbally express his emotions.
To overcome this struggle, his teacher Siobhan shows Another dominant part of Christopher’s personality is
him to use simple drawings of facial expressions to how particular he is with specific things that could be
convey his feelings. These simple drawings were drawn considered irrelevant to anyone else, such as opinions
by Christopher on the stage floor and then projected on colours. He expresses his hate for the colours
onto the back wall of the stage. The illustrated faces yellow and brown and his love for the colour red. These
were a recurring theme throughout which reinforces colours are used subtly in characters’ costumes to
the raw truth of Asperger’s; it is a constant battle to show their relationship with Christopher. His neighbour
control and express their internal emotions. We see his who he forms a bond with, wears red laces, whereas
difficulty to interact with people on an emotional level his mother’s new partner wears a yellow waistcoat to
again when he uses people as objects when going into convey the negative connotations with their relationship.
his house. This use of physical theatre shows his inability These colours play a crucial part in portraying
at the beginning of the play to connect with people, Christopher’s progression, for example: he is gifted
even his family. Christopher does improve throughout with a golden Labrador puppy, he names him Sandy
the production; his journey makes the audience form a (which has connotations with the colour yellow). This
personal connection with him. We see the set around symbolism may seem insignificant but for the audience
him evolve a lot faster than his personal, internal to experience Christopher’s struggles in everyday life
progress, this shows how he finds it hard to keep up and to see this improvement, it felt like we had viewed a
with the chaotic, confusing world. huge accomplishment alongside him.
The constant movement from Christopher shows how This production is hugely educational about the many
his body and mind don’t have a break. The only time aspects of Asperger’s and the convincing role of
we as the audience saw him motionless was when his Christopher enabled the learning to happen. I was
father hit Christopher out of frustration. There was a amazed by the actor’s impeccable talent maintaining
sound effect that occurred when he was hit, which I this role throughout the entirety of the play. Without his
interpreted as a fuse blowing. This made me thing of believable performance, I think the audience would not
Christopher like an electric circuit, constantly overflowing have understood the exhausting, painful life style that is
with energy, and at this moment his father knocked paired with Asperger’s syndrome.
the energy out of him. This is a cataclysmic point in the
production. It portrays how autism effects everybody
surrounding the person suffering, as well as themselves.
www.aan.norfolk.sch.uk 17Stage Lit Performance
at Norwich Playhouse
Year Ten Drama students from Attleborough Academy
delighted their audience with performed extracts from
Blood Brothers at the ‘Stage Lit’ evening at Norwich
Playhouse in February.
Our English and Drama departments work very closely
together and synchronise our curriculum to support
student learning from Year 7 right through to Year 13.
‘Drenglish’ is something we promote and our students
love. The value of seeing an English text brought to
life through experiential learning is visible in terms of
engagement and progress and Stage Lit gave us a
chance to showcase this on the professional stage.
Blood Brothers is a set text for English and Drama GCSE performance was. Our students radiated joy and energy
and our students have seen the benefits of exploring the and it was wonderful to behold the pride they gained from
script on their feet and taking this fresh understanding being a part of something so fantastic. Mr McShane said
back to their English classrooms. A highlight of the that he ‘particularly enjoyed seeing the same sections
preparation was performing to the whole of Year 10 one interpreted and performed in different ways’ and ‘was
afternoon, this was brilliant revision for English students #AANprouderthanproud.’ Ms Jones said that she knew
and was a useful ‘Dress Rehearsal’ for the performers. they would be good but they surpassed even her high
Apparently performing to their peers was much more expectations and is particularly delighted by the fact
terrifying than a public audience! they have managed to transfer all this understanding and
experience into writing for the written exam!
We have two classes of GCSE Drama students who
performed their work as an ensemble and individually. How fantastic to have opportunities to perform in a
It was fantastic to have the chance to perform to a wider professional venue, have fun, entertain others, be a part
audience and we also had the experience of a technical of a team and grow in confidence while you are preparing
workshop to support our understanding of how stage for a GCSE. Well done Year Ten Drama Students!
lighting works. The standard of work produced reached We are looking forward to seeing Year Twelve perform
an all time high and it was evident from the rapturous their devised piece of theatre about Refugees at the
applause and standing ovation how well received the Playhouse on 26th March.
18 www.aan.norfolk.sch.ukCast List: Gediminas Anuskevicius Francesca Eadle Jessica Sayer Kai Rush Kieran Best Gabriel Ferreira Aidan Norman Abbie Wilson Leah Bailey Poppy Edwards Megan Schofield Ruby Smallwood Owen Bonner Charlie King Lucy Norman Guoda Smazinaite Eva Blake Millie Eke Charlie Scoulding Liam Stewart Joshua Brett James Marjoram Percy Overton Nathan Talbot Ben Bluck Jack Halsall Tala Smith Deimante Cepkauskaite Lucy Rowling Matilda Parsons Max Brooks Kamile Kurlinkute Alfie Tyas Isabella Cole Eve Royden Amber Perry Rhiannon Chamberlain Joe Mihalop Alfie Vlatseas Aoife Cross Kayo Santos Summer Priehs Ellen Cursons Megan Mortimer Harry Watson www.aan.norfolk.sch.uk 19
Christmas Concert On Wednesday 12th December, the school opened its doors to host the annual Christmas concert in the main hall, organised by the Music Department. There were a variety of musical acts, ranging from solos to ensembles, and encompassing a wide range of musical styles. Over fifty performers from Year 7 to 13 took part in the concert, ranging from beginners, who had only started learning in September, to more experienced students. The concert was managed by GCSE and Sixth Form Music students, who organised rehearsals and managed the overall event. It was a fantastic evening enjoyed by staff, students and parents. A massive thank you to all who attended and well done to all our very talented performers and tech crew. 20 www.aan.norfolk.sch.uk
Music
Workshop
Sixth form and GCSE music
students were treated to a
two-hour interactive music
industry workshop from Sam
Robson, founder of Industry
Education in Music.
Sam has a world of knowledge
and experience of the industry
to share with students from
his own success as a touring
musician to running his own
business. He presented
opportunities in the new
digital music industry and how
students can access these as
a creative career path in this
growing sector. A wide range
of topics were covered, from
DIY bands and solo artists to
management, PR, festivals,
touring and social media. The
workshop covered the many
career paths in today’s music
industry and provided a great
insight for those students
wishing to take their music
education further and continue
their studies.
www.aan.norfolk.sch.uk 21Sixth Form Presentation Evening On Friday 4th January we held our annual Sixth Form Presentation Evening, and had the pleasure of welcoming back our Year 13 2018 cohort to celebrate their great successes during their time in our Sixth Form. Over the course of a highly enjoyable and moving evening a range of awards were distributed with the aim of acknowledging and rewarding not only our students’ great academic achievement, but also to recognise accomplishments such as individual progress and achieving in the face of adversity. The evening was led by Mr Cole and Mrs McConnell, with each of the Sixth Form teachers presenting their individual subject awards with short speeches recognising the individual talent in each case. This was a truly wonderful occasion attended by many of our past students, their parents, our Principal Mr McShane, past staff members including ex Head of Sixth Mr Brian Hunt and members of the community, including our Mayoress, our Chair of Governors, and many of our sponsors. We were delighted to have the opportunity to welcome as our guest speaker, the young Norfolk entrepreneur Mr Kieran Miles. Kieran is the founder of a number of businesses, including 22 www.aan.norfolk.sch.uk
KakeCo, a management consultancy
helping organisations ranging with an
annual turnover of between £2M and
£1.1B to better understand the ‘digital
age’ and the 16-30 markets, #DigitalCity
which seeks to connect young people,
students and parents to exciting digital
businesses in their local area for the
purpose of sharing ideas, and The
Avocado Club which provides new age
networking opportunities for business
leaders. He is the recipient of many
national awards – he was named as one
the UK’s Top 26 entrepreneurial change
makers under 30 – is an Associate
Fellow of the Royal Commonwealth
Society and the lead of the IoD’s young
directors forum in Norfolk. Kieran talked
passionately to the audience about his
entrepreneurial initiatives, starting from
his school days, the interesting pathway
that led him to establishing different
organisations, and his latest project –
the company DUCO who had recently
secured the contract to provide the
sportswear for the GB Climbing Team in
Tokyo 2020 Olympics . His inspiring and
lively speech was very well received by
the audience.
This year was a particularly warm
community event with a number of our
current Sixth Form students contributing
brilliantly to the running of the evening
in ways that enhanced the atmosphere
of the occasion. A group of our current
Sixth Form Year 13 Presidents were in
charge of refreshments for the occasion.
Sixth Former, and photography
A Level student, Jamie Cator was
the official photographer for the event,
both of the stage presentations and The evening was made possible by the hard work of many of the Academy
also for posed pictures offered to the staff and by the generous sponsorship of local businesses and members
audience during the evening. Incredible of the community and we would like to take this opportunity to thank the
musical talents were also showcased sponsors below for their support:
in the musical performances of two of
our current Year 13s: Esther opened • Acutech Precision • Great Ellingham Pretenders
the evening with her heart-breakingly Engineering Ltd • icanbea
pure and emotional rendition of Hugo • Attleborough Surgeries • K M First Aid
Peretti’s Elvis recorded, ‘Can’t Help
• Breckland Industrial Ltd • Mellor Metals
Falling in Love’ and then again wowed
the audience with her opening of • Brian Hunt • P F Southgate
the second half of activities with the • Connaught Bowls Club • Plandescil
Beatles’ classic ‘Here Comes the Sun’; • Crowshall Veterinary Services • Repco Roof Tiles Ltd
Lily Whear brought a very different • Daniels Plumbers Limited • Richard Johnston
musical style with her powerful and
• East of England • Susan’s Work Basket
beautiful Deh Vieni non tardar from
Co-Op Funeral Services
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s opera • Tom’s Fish Bar
The Marriage of Figaro. • Ewin Farms Ltd
• Vera Dale
• Family Car Sales
www.aan.norfolk.sch.uk 2324 www.aan.norfolk.sch.uk
www.aan.norfolk.sch.uk 25
Sixth Form Presentation Evening
Prize Winners
Subject Award Prize Winner Subject Award Prize Winner
Art Niamh Bates Maths Shannon Hall
Biology Alex Whitefield Photography Harley Evans
Business Studies Hayden Wilby Product Design Edward Bye
Chemistry Bethany Alexander Psychology Ella Gilchrist
Computer Science Dylan Walsh Sociology Tala Donga
Creative Writing Emma Seager Brian Hunt Award for Progress Harry Goodrum
Drama Keziah Collier Keith Maughan Memorial
Jackson Cutts
Golden Moustache Award
English Lang/Lit Gemma Woods
The Sarah Mead Award for Endeavour Senna Watker
English Literature Eleanor French
Head of Sixth Form Award Ella Gilchrist
Geography Spencer Everett
Principal’s Award to Lead President
Edward Bye
8” Salver in Presentation Box
Health and Social Care Gemma Woods
Principal’s Award to Lead President
Keziah Collier
History Adam Spiby 8” Salver in Presentation Box
The breadth and depth of the qualities and achievements of this year group was an inspiration to bare witness
to; this was a wonderful evening greatly enjoyed by everyone who attended.
26 www.aan.norfolk.sch.ukSixth Form Christmas Meal In December, Year 12 and Year 13 students were full of festive spirit and brought the year to an end in style. The Presidential Team coordinated the organisation of the annual Christmas Meal at the newly reopened Breckland Lodge. Seats were in high demand as students and staff filled the venue to enjoy a festive feast. It is fair to say that some took the all- you-can-eat carvery to a new level! Following the event, Mr Nevard (@djnevardAAN) tweeted: “Great to join so many of our AAN Sixth Form students for a festive feast! Thanks to Breckland Lodge for another wonderful Christmas Meal - so glad to see you back up and running, with consistently excellent food and service.” www.aan.norfolk.sch.uk 27
ARTiculation Regional Final
at the Sainsbury Centre
Images provided by the ARTiculation team at The Roche Court Educational Trust
A group of Year 12 and Year 13 students took part in The curator and judge of the competition thanked Julia
the national competition ARTiculation run by for her perceptive talk which championed the world of
The Roche Court Educational Trust. fashion and gave it a prominent place in the studies of
art history. Karine Akroyd, one of the teachers involved in
This is a fantastic opportunity for our students to develop the project, commented: “We were all incredibly proud of
their critical thinking, independent learning, knowledge Julia’s performance – her piece represented a fascinating
of research methods and oracy skills. They had the and unique contribution to the world of art historical
opportunity to express their own ideas on art works studies, the academic insight and depth of analysis
which can include works in any medium, from painting, demonstrated her raw talent in this field, alongside her
sculpture and architecture to fashion, photography, media clear and confident oratorical skills.”
and graffiti. Each student built an insightful research
project based on their own artistic interest and gave a
presentation on this work to a panel of judges. In January,
we sent our school finalist, Julia Jopkiewicz, to the
regional heat held at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts
judged by curator John Bloomfield.
The ARTiculation regional heat involved eight schools
and provided a fantastic showcase of young people’s
talents, with a wide range of final presentations, including
fresh interpretations of Picasso, Pop Art photography
and Julia’s outstanding talk on Alexander McQueen’s
Voss collection. Having created her own project from in-
depth independent research, Julia constructed a unique
and fascinating presentation on one particular dress
from McQueen’s ground-breaking exhibition. The talk
demonstrated incredible academic rigour, critical thinking
skills and clear confidence in the delivery of her speech.
28 www.aan.norfolk.sch.ukAs part of the longevity of the project, each of our speakers will be able to join the ARTiculation alumni group administered by the Roche Court Educational Trust. This will enable the students to access other opportunities as they continue in their careers and academic studies beyond school. We have very much enjoyed seeing how our students have flourished under this programme and look forward to hearing more about their adventures within the network in the future. Senior Maths Team Challenge In November last year we took four sixth formers, Alfie Holmes, Kit Neil, Mia Kruger and Callum Lodge to the CNS school in Norwich for the Senior Maths Team Challenge, organised by the AMSP. We were competing against twenty other schools from Norfolk in three different rounds. The first round was ten problem solving questions where they could work as a four to share techniques and ideas and answer as many as possible in forty minutes. The second round was a Cross number where the answers to the mathematical clues fill in a cross- word type grid. This was quite tricky this year as lots of the questions were dependent on others, so one pair had to wait for another to get their answer before they could complete their question. There is no conferring The final, most tense round, was the relay. Again in pairs, they had eight allowed between pairs, but they were minutes to answer four questions, but each answer was needed to substitute so focussed on the questions they into the next. Our team did brilliantly, working well together, communicating didn’t really talk anyway! effectively and being more successful in their approach compared to last year. www.aan.norfolk.sch.uk 29
Children in Need
Yet again this year,
our Sixth Form Presidential
Team coordinated another
wonderful fundraising effort
in aid of the Children In
Need appeal.
A range of activities took
place, including a bake sale,
Pudsey loose change bucket
collections throughout the
day, and even Mr Stott
surrendering himself to
a soaking in aid of this
charity! Esther’s legendary
delicious cookies - baked in
collaboration with other Year
13s, Kate, and Julia - made a
return, and were sold around
the Academy throughout the
day. It wasn’t long before the Overall, a superb £237.40 was raised on the day by our students. This will help to contribute
donation buckets were as full to the £50 million that was raised nationwide, all to help make a difference to the lives of
as everyone’s stomachs. disadvantaged young people in the UK. Well done to all the students involved.
Grow Wild
Youth Project
As part of the sixth form volunteering programme
Mia Kruger was successful in her application for a
Kew Gardens’ Grow Wild grant.
Mia had to prepare a short video in application to show how
she would spend the money on promoting interest in native
wildflowers. This is the first time Kew Gardens have funded
a project of any type in Norfolk and we are very excited to
use this money to support our academy garden. The winter was a quiet time in the garden, but we have
manged to get out on a few occasions to keep on top of
Mia was awarded £500 which she has decided to spend on weeding and maintenance. Our kindly donated greenhouse is
building a seated arbour with a sensory garden around the nearing completion thanks to Mr Groves who has been busily
academy pond. She will be putting her artistic skills to good constructing it in the back of his lab in his spare time! We have a
use painting a floral mural directly onto the arbour. The idea few winter vegetables to harvest ready to make room for spring
is to provide students with somewhere quiet to reflect, relax planting.
and re-charge within a sensory rich outdoor environment.
If students would like to join us, we are in the garden every
The arbour is currently busy being painted ready for Thursday lunchtime and if teachers would like to use it as part of
construction and planting as the good weather continues. their lessons but are not sure how then just let Mr Brahams know!
30 www.aan.norfolk.sch.ukThe Sixth Form & Staff Giant Book Swap This March saw the third in our highly successful Sixth Form and Staff Giant Book Swap events. When doors opened for the Book Swap, the Sixth Form block was buzzing with our staff and Sixth Formers swapping ideas about books in the process of choosing their swaps. These occasions have been set up by Assistant Principal Mrs McConnell to promote the joy of reading across Attleborough Academy, by establishing a lunchtime event where everyone comes together to restock their home library and by providing an opportunity for everyone to share their views about specific texts and explore perspectives about reading generally. The Book Swap was created with the use to ‘purchase’ books at the book quickly found new homes and aim of extending students’ exposure swap event. It was exciting to note readers to appreciate them. Any to texts across a large range of the extensive range of texts that our books that remained at the end of genres and topics and to role model students and staff enjoy reading as the day were then taken by a group prolific readers. In the weeks leading the piles of donated texts came in of Sixth Formers and donated to up to the event Sixth Form students prior to the occasion. local charity shops: not only had and staff donated hundreds of some great reads been shared books, both fiction and non-fiction, On the day itself, a group of A Level amongst staff and students, but this hardback and paperback: from English Literature students worked event also provided benefits for the classic novels, historical novels, with Mrs McConnell, carrying books, local community. All in all this was modern literature, through to organising them into categories a very successful and enjoyable children’s classics, history, crime and labelling and laying out the event, providing the great gift of and fantasy. In return for each book room ready for the event in the some spectacular reading hours for that they donated, individuals were Sixth Form Centre. Within a short everyone who took part! given book swap tokens ready to amount of time piles of books www.aan.norfolk.sch.uk 31
Year 12 Volunteering Programme
& St Edmund’s Care Home Training
This year our Year 12 students
have engaged with enthusiasm in
an innovative and highly valuable
volunteering programme at
Attleborough Academy Sixth.
Arising from this project, Year 12
students from the Academy were
given a great opportunity to take
part in NHS run professional training
about dealing with dementia issues
and care of the elderly. The learning
session was open to those students
who already visit St Edmund’s Care
Home each week as part of our
volunteering programme, and others
who are considering working in caring
professions; this offered a fantastic
chance to gain relevant experience
to increase their future employment week supporting charities and groups,
chances. The first session took part both locally and within the Academy.
at St Edmund’s and was attended by
both our students and the staff of the The students’ involvement has been
Care Home. Further training sessions shown to have a wonderful impact
are to take place over the year and on the lives of those that they have
we feel privileged to have this learning chosen to support. In St Edmund’s
opportunity opened to both our staff Care Home the residents talk of the
and students. pleasure they gain in the interactions
with the younger generation each
Since September, for the first time at week. At Christmas they presented our
Attleborough Academy, all the Year students with delightful individual gifts
12 students joining the Sixth Form and they look forward to their visits
are timetabled to carry out at least each week; wonderful relationships
one hour of volunteering each week have been established across the
over the academy year. Our Year 12 generations. In the academy garden,
students were given the opportunity to in the library and in a variety of main
give an hour or more of their time each school lessons and in leisure time,
32 www.aan.norfolk.sch.ukteams of Year 12 students have also made a great impact working and supporting the learning of younger students. This initiative aims to educate our young people on being part of a society, rather than just an isolated individual and to show them the importance of ‘giving back’ to the community of people that make up our wider world. By the third week of September 2018 each and every one of our Year 12 students was engaged in a volunteering activity, ranging from working with younger students at the Academy by supporting their reading development, through working with Junior and Nursery students in the town, to gathering the life stories of the elderly. Debs Carter, from the Lighthouse Project has been a key advocate of, and positive force, working with Mrs McConnell on the project from the original idea through to its successful implementation. The project was introduced by a series of workshops and presentations led by Assistant Principal Carmina McConnell, Debs Carter, and Jen Pochin from the St Edmunds Care Home. The team presented the students with the external opportunities available, which included visiting as a team St Edmunds Care home to socialise and support the elderly, to working at The Lighthouse Charity teaching computer skills, to supporting at The Pavillion Nursery with the youngest members of our local community. The students had opportunities within the Academy to support lessons of subjects they studied at A Level, sharing their skills in much younger classes. This has the added benefit of them honing their own skills in that subject as they shared Mrs McConnell, Assistant Principal commented: “We are so proud of what their knowledge with others. Other these Attleborough Academy students have achieved through this volunteering opportunities included volunteering programme. It is such a crucial part of a young person’s education to recognise in the library reading projects, work their place in society and the importance of helping and supporting others in the with groups in Citizenship, Drama, community. Our Year 12s have embraced this project with great enthusiasm and and teams in PE, and to be involved commitment and they have built relationships with people of different ages, and in the gardening club run by the Head have gained insight into the power they hold to make a difference in the lives of of Science. Once the different options other people. We are hoping this programme will continue to develop and expand; were presented to the students, they we are so grateful for the input given by Debs Carter and Jen Pochin to help then had to write an application and ensure the success of this project”. be involved in group interviews. The applications and interview process We hope for this project to continue to go from strength to strength. If you are also provided our students with involved in a local charity or caring organisation that would benefit from our valuable experience as they move students volunteering one hour a week with you, then please email: towards the world of work. cmcconnell@aan.norfolk.sch.uk www.aan.norfolk.sch.uk 33
Surgery In Schools at U.E.A. In February, our Sixth Form students were offered the chance to attend ‘Surgery in Schools’, an event for medics-to-be in sixth forms across Norfolk at the UEA Campus. It aims to encourage students who are interested in Medicine to absolutely go for it, providing invaluable insights, while also helping them to develop some skills. Meghana, one of our Year 12 The day started with students (mainly Year 12s like me) being split into groups students who attended, said so that everyone in a group was from a different school to one another. Each that “If you’re someone who is group was assigned a friendly medical student, who gave us a tour of the solely looking into medicine as UEA’s Library- a medical student’s ‘second home’ as one described it, a a future career path or even just suturing tutorial using plastic skin models with incisions on it and finally, a considering it as one of many, I hands-on demonstration on operating a small-scale laparoscopic machine. I would highly recommend attending should add that the last two tasks were quite fiddly but still enjoyable. During this suturing event. Suturing isn’t a these activities, the medics answered our doubts and questions on studying compulsory skill you are expected medicine at a degree level and the steps they took getting there. to perform before attending medical school but it’s great to have a For me, it was a very insightful opportunity that allowed me to interact with better awareness of the process fellow aspiring medical students and actual medical students themselves beforehand. which would be incredibly unlikely to happen otherwise.” “Paper Birds” Year 12 Drama Workshop Year 12 Drama students had the great opportunity of learning new performance techniques through a workshop session run by Chloe Diggines. Chloe had recently experienced a week of training in these techniques at the National Theatre in London and she visited the Academy to share the skills and approaches she had learnt with our A Level Drama students. The workshop began with a stream of consciousness exercise, then developed to explore a wide range of techniques for communicating these to an audience. Drama student Harry Weaver commented: “I really “When we performed the ‘Paper Birds’scene I felt it really reflected the enjoyed this because it helped me emotions we were trying to communicate to an audience.” All in all, the to uncover and explore different students greatly enjoyed the learning experience and felt that the workshop emotions in certain situations.” effectively helped to extend their skills base for achieving at Drama A Level. Year 12 Lucy Spurgeon added: 34 www.aan.norfolk.sch.uk
Student Achievements Congratulations to Lily in Year 7 who had a very Another success came with Year 11 student, successful time at the ISTD Grand Finals 2018 - Lydia, being chosen to represent England in Modern Ballroom & Latin American which took place boxing. She fought in the International Boxing in The Winter Gardens, Blackpool. This was Lily’s Show, with England beating Wales 8-5 in the first competition as a Junior. In the Ballroom section competition. she danced the waltz and was placed 6th from 32 competitors and in Latin she danced the cha cha Well done Lydia! cha, achieving 4th place out of 29. Well done Lily! www.aan.norfolk.sch.uk 35
Sixth Form: Accepting Applications
for September 2019
Achieve your aspirations with
Attleborough Academy Sixth Form
For further information, or to arrange a visit,
contact Mr Andy Cole, Head of Sixth, on (01953) 452335
Apply through our website at www.aan.norfolk.sch.uk
Attleborough Academy Norfolk
9 Norwich Road, Attleborough, Norfolk NR17 2AJ
t: 01953 452335 f: 01953 456817
e: office@aan.norfolk.sch.uk www.aan.norfolk.sch.ukYou can also read
