p. 1

autumn term 2011 newsletter welcome to our autumn term newsletter in this edition you will be able to read about our awards evening visitors from our partner school in durban south africa and our fantastic fundraising efforts throughout the school it has been an exceptionally busy and productive term here at garforth academy with an increasing amount of additional opportunities for our young people to engage in learning collaboration career developments and partnership work alongside and over and above our day to day curriculum and extra-curricular programmes as principal i am constantly astounded by the talent of our young people and extremely proud of their accomplishments i would like to take this opportunity to offer my sincere thanks for the on-going support that you give to your children and directly to the academy at the moment we are enjoying our highest attendance levels for some years and feeling very positive about the potential outcomes of the students that are taking key examinations this year we are also enjoying a much sharper focus on our curriculum provision and are making some developments which we believe will give more of our students even more opportunity to be successful in their areas of interest this term ends for all students on friday 16th december and all students return on tuesday 3rd january 2012 i wish you all a very happy christmas and peaceful new year paul west principal an evening of achievement on thursday 17th november we welcomed sixth form students and their families to celebrate student achievement during the last twelve months the evening started on a high note with the newly formed clarinet group nite larc and we were expertly steered through the proceedings by mr stevenson nominations for each subject are made by the head of department and then passed to the awards committee for the final decision we are also fortunate enough to have several sponsored awards which have been donated by local businesses and organisations to which we have links we were then given a second musical treat from our choir gleeds who sang run by snow patrol and somebody to love by queen as the proceedings were drawing to a close we were left with words of wisdom by our chair of governors chief executive and principal however the best really was saved until last with a superb response on behalf of the academy given by georgia seedhouse.

[close]

p. 2

ga rf orth we lc ome s mz uve le i have met wonderful warm and caring people who have one goal to give people the opportunity to develop in all spheres of life irrespective of colour race or creed mrs pumula mpondi mzuvele school durban on the 14th november garforth academy was privileged to welcome mrs pumla mpondi head of science and mr siyanda msomi teacher of art as visiting representatives of garforth academy s partnership school in durban mzuvele high school this visit provided an opportunity for our students to meet with staff from mzuvele and to learn some zulu language and traditional dance teachers also worked together to broaden the relationship and to develop project work shared by the partnership schools mrs mpondi summed up her experience i have met wonderful warm and caring people who have one goal to give people the opportunity to develop in all spheres of life irrespective of colour race or creed garforth academy is the best school that i have seen in my experience as a teacher and my wish is that garforth students will really appreciate the opportunities they have and use them to the best of their abilities mr msomi added it was an awesome experience to see teaching approaches which are not the same as i m used to i now feel like a true citizen of garforth we would like to express our warmest thanks to mrs mpondi and mr msomi for sharing their time skills and experiences with us we are very much looking forward to the return visit to mzuvele at easter when staff and students from garforth mzuvele and one of mzuvele s feeder primary schools will continue on-going collaborative projects in the performing arts science and english n ot s o l oud but v er y p r oud on thursday 7th july 2011 year 7 s at garforth academy took part in a challenging sponsored silence with silent lessons planned out pupils were given mini whiteboards and pens to ease their methods of communication as the first lessons began children were already feeling the toughness the fact that many lessons that day included the core subjects added to the challenge however all of the pupils were doing a good job some only accidently said the hard to avoid yes or no reply in difficult times they were told to remember the cause raising money for help for heroes they thought of all the injured soldiers who put their bodies on the line for the safety of their country the real challenge was at the end of the day as the children were involved in interform competitions the urge to cheer on their classmates overcame many but the fact that everyone tried their hardest was what really mattered and £2500.00 was raised samuel bannister 8ct

[close]

p. 3

tru st pri ma ri es to rec ord c h ri stma s c d arts live a partnership between garforth academy brigshaw high school and artforms has been going from strength to strength since it was launched in september last year 270 children young people and adults have regularly attended classes since 2010 and arts live also worked with over 3000 local children on various arts projects during last year as part of the garforth arts festival 2011 an art project was held over the 7 trust primary schools to create collages flags and mosaics this project involved every single child in every single school and the flags and collages really brightened up garforth main street during the festival period the legacy of the mosaics can currently be seen in the reception area at garforth academy until they go `on tour around the primary schools involved in their creation back in march 2011 garforth academy brigshaw high school and green lane primary academy took part in an exciting choir project and competed in the music for youth competition as a huge joint choir to rapturous praise the choirs of green lane primary academy strawberry fields primary school and kippax ash tree primary school are all taking part in a christmas cd recording this festive season with an aim to have a permanent children s community choir set up in the new year looking to the future we have many classes on offer and some exciting projects planned the arts live folk group is re-launching with a new tutor hannah james who is well known in the folk scene and has performed with artists such as bellowhead and the daemon barbers a new electronic music production class will be starting up for any budding djs out there and an art club is now running on saturdays at garforth academy and another is due to start in brigshaw high school on wednesday afternoon all of the arts live groups can take on new members including the garforth jazz rock band the shiny band masquerade children s theatre as well as adult steel pans children s guitar and steel pan classes and of course our 4 successful streetdance groups arts live is fully inclusive and we welcome everyone whatever their ability to come and join in the fun where they can see www.arts-live.com for more details or contact lisa on 07891 277715

[close]

p. 4

sixth form students take a step towards their future careers a group of thirteen first year sixth form students have just embarked on the uk career academy course in business and finance the career academy is a unique course that gives students the opportunity to study an academic qualification whilst gaining real industry experience students are paired with a mentor from local and national businesses such as bank of new york mellon endless and prozone in addition the students complete a six week internship in businesses in and around leeds city centre this week saw the `mentor ice breaker event an exercise where students were given two minutes to meet each mentor and establish what they do and why they want to be a mentor this was a fantastic opportunity for the mentors to visit garforth see the surroundings and environment that the students work in and most importantly meet the students after the event both students and mentors found the `speed mentoring a great way to introduce themselves to each other one student said i was really nervous about meeting these important people from businesses but the `speed mentoring was fun and made the whole process relaxed i m really looking forward to getting going with the mentoring the businesses also advocated how successful the event was and were very impressed with how the students communicated with the mentors the garforth students will now go on to work with their mentors over the next two years in a number of ways mentors provide advice to students on their academic studies guide students on career options assist them with applications and provide opportunities to visit businesses or take part in events at the mentor s business the purpose of the uk career academy course is to raise aspirations but more importantly assist the students with getting that much needed experience they need in what is now a highly competitive job market the dream team s dream christmas fair the dream team are a group of sixth form students studying life skills part of their course involves planning an enterprise activity which aims to provide students with a broad introduction for preparing to undertake an organised activity dealing with money and customers correctly over the past few weeks they have designed and made craft items and cards to sell at the christmas craft fair as well as running a gift tombola and second hand book stall this was a fantastic opportunity for the students to develop their social and communication skills by dealing with the public and also improve their proficiency with money it was a great success and the team all worked fantastically well together we all had a thoroughly enjoyable time raised £120 for the course and the students were fabulous ambassadors for the academy their families and most importantly themselves these students really do live up to our courses mission statement engaging enjoying empowering!

[close]

p. 5

careers on show throughout the autumn term students in the sixth form have been afforded the opportunity to explore careers face to face with individuals from various professions early in the term three lawyers from top legal firm pinsent masons arrived at the academy to talk to sixth form students about a career in law students were given a realistic insight into the nature of the profession as well as crucial application advice to help secure a successful entry into this highly competitive field in october teachers from local primary schools were invited in to discuss the teaching profession particularly at primary level and in november students had the benefit of talking to an army major about the many roles within the armed forces with further showcases planned for the new year in physiotherapy accountancy and medicine it is hoped that by the end of the year students will have been exposed to a wide variety of professions ensuring well informed choices for higher education and employment beyond the sixth form sixth formers raise £1000 for children in need from 14-18th november 2011 students at garforth academy sixth form came together to raise an impressive £1000.51 for the bbc children in need appeal year 12 musicians utilised their exceptional talent to entertain students and staff at break times pitching up and busking in various locations around the academy in addition students `baked a difference nail painted played basketball football and `showed their spots to raise lots to raise money to support valuable work with children across the uk a hugely successful week for the sixth form who are preparing to embark on their next fundraising venture early in 2012 `music for mzuvele mot testing audio equipment performance tyres balancing bodywork repairs air conditioning fault diagnosis unit 6a lotherton way garforth ls25 2jy 0113 2872081 visit our facebook page and click `like to receive regular updates on sixth form news and events www.facebook.com garforthacademysixthform

[close]

p. 6

chloe and joel meet the usual suspect it has been a very busy term for the drama department which got off to an exciting start before term had even begun year 12 students chloe hudson and joel smith together with mr stevenson head of drama took part in the richards rampage project the project is run by the kevin spacey foundation and involved schools applying for the opportunity of going to london and working on kevin spacey s latest production of richard the third and also watching the performance garforth academy was successful in its application along with a selection of other schools from across the uk the day involved travelling to london to the old vic theatre where the current sell out production was being staged chloe and joel spent the morning exploring the themes of the play with members of the kevin spacey foundation and with other students who had been selected for the event then it was time to meet the oscar winning hollywood star himself for a question and answer session and of course some photos before they watched him in his epic performance of richard the third which was brilliant the day was fantastic and a real once in a life time opportunity for our students all of the participants were challenged at the end of the day to create their own 3 minute version of the play chloe and joel responded to the challenge and created their own shortened version of the classic which has received special recognition from the kevin spacey foundation as well as the richards rampage competition there have been other drama competition successes year 10 student anastasia nevarez was successful in gaining entry to the bbc s off by heart competition the competition required participants to learn and perform a speech from shakespeare which would be judged along with other students at the west yorkshire playhouse although anastasia did not make it through to the next heat of the competition she did extremely well to be selected for the competition and gained a lot from the experience the drama department has also been busy taking our students to a number of performances our year 11 gcse drama students enjoyed a moving and visually stunning physical theatre performance of love song by frantic assembly our 6th form students also enjoyed performances of king lear and the wild bride by kneehigh theatre company both at the west yorkshire playhouse year 9 and year 11 btec performing arts students will also have the opportunity to see peshawar theatre company and red ladder theatre company s production of nor any drop which will be performed in school the show explores the themes and issues behind global warming our year 9 students will then take part in follow up workshops with red ladder looking at the issues that the performance raises while phoebe s talent shines through in annie year 8 student phoebe tissiman has successfully auditioned for annie interviewed by the yorkshire post phoebe explains i ve been in annie before at leeds grand theatre when i was around six or seven i found out through my cousin who was in the wiz his auntie found out that annie was going to be the next production at the west yorkshire playhouse and i went for it congratulations phoebe!

[close]